In Pursuit of Eden
by ProjectEden
Summary: She entered the Black Order, expecting nothing less than what was required of her- until everything started to fall apart beneath her feet. In the end, however, she was just another tool of the Order. All of them were.
1. Prologue

**.prologue.**

She stepped through the double doors of the church, tear-streaked, hesitant, her right hand fisted by her side.

_Would it be the right time for this?_

She had no way of knowing. On one hand, it could bring Lex relief, distraction. On the other hand… it could simply compound the grief. And thinking about the cause for that grief nearly buckled her. Her fist clenched even harder to keep her calm. She breathed in deeply- once, twice- before proceeding down the aisle to the church's backroom, where her sister would surely be.

Nearing the doorway, she heard voices in the room. Her brow wrinkled in confusion. Was there someone with Lex? One voice was female, hoarse and ragged from crying. Lex. The other voice was male, unfamiliar- yet the tone was persuasive, almost loving. She strained her ears to listen, but the conversation was muffled by the closed door. The conversation paused- a weighted, contemplative sort of silence reigned. She wondered if she should interrupt then, and cracked open the door.

That was when the sudden, desperate cry had her rearing back.

"Mother!"

She rushed to peer into the room through the door crack, her confusion and initial hesitance stopping her from rushing in head-on. What she saw in the room confounded her further. A portly, funny-looking gentleman, with a satisfied smile on his face. Lex kneeling on the floor, similarly tear-streaked, yet looking up hopefully at some sort of skeleton.

Her heart stopped. No- it couldn't be. Her mother….?

A throb of pain in her right hand distracted her. She looked down, opened her fist to reveal the locket, glowing green.

_What the-?_

A scream interrupted her thoughts, and she looked up in time to see the strange metal skeleton slash Lex with the pointed end of its arm, causing Lex to fall backwards, beyond the range of her vision.

A scream of her own strangled in her throat.

That was when the pain _really_ started. She looked down once more to see the locket glowing white hot now, her surrounding flesh blistering, blackening with the heat.

She screamed this time, from the pain and the shock and the _confusion_. _What just happened?_

And she could swear she felt the earth start to shake beneath her- or was it just her trembling? -and the pain, the _pain_, she tried to open her hand fully but the locket just_ wouldn't fall off_, and it was glowing brighter than before, glowing so hard that everything was turning white and she fell back, clutching at her hand in pain, screaming hysterically, as hard, as long as she could and then-

Black.

***

He hovered safely in the air above the huge dome of light, hanging by a peculiar umbrella. His smile remained- only, it was more of amusement than anything else.

"Wah, Earl-tama! What just happened, rero?!" The nasty-looking pumpkin head on top of the umbrella shrieked.

Fingers stroking his chin, he mused lovingly, "Another Innocence Invocation, I believe. Probably belonging to that dead girl. Good thing I got out of there in time, huh, Rero?"

"This is great, Earl-tama! But why don't you retrieve the Innocence now?"

A trace of impatience crept into his voice, though the creepy smile remained. "Can't you see, Rero? It seems to be a shield of some sort. We won't be able to enter. Besides, we can't see anything with the bright light, can we?"

He paused in contemplation.

"Looks like this invocation will last some time, Rero. I'll send Akuma to wait for the invocation to cease so they can retrieve the Innocence fragment. Let's head back- we'll be just in time for the meeting with the Noah."

And whistling an airy tune, the Victorian gentleman and his strange companion floated away in the night sky, silhouetted against the large crescent moon.

-

**a/n: **Please review =)


	2. Arrival

**a/n: **The story kicks in. This is set a few months after the Level Four arc, and the Black Order HQ has already been moved to London.

-

**.arrival.**

"Thanks to everyone's hard work, the Black Order Headquarters is now officially up and running! In fact, our global communications were fully restored just earlier. Here's to all of you for making this possible. Cheers!" Head Officer Komui Lee shouted over the noise, raising his glassful of wine up to the crowd under the "Housewarming" banner.

"Cheers!" The crowd screamed back, and there was a noticeable decrease in noise level as everyone followed Komui's lead and drank deeply.

Allen and Lenalee grinned at each other over their glasses of wine.

"Too bad not everyone could make it to the celebrations," Lenalee mused.

Allen snorted. "As far I'm concerned, that's a good thing. Who wants Kanda around to call them 'beansprout' every minute of the day?"

Lenalee couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, you guys," Komui came up to them jovially. "Why aren't the both of you drinking?"

"We're underage, remember?" Allen pointed out.

"Ah, never mind that. It's a special occasion to- What's the matter, Reever?"

Reever had come sprinting up to the trio. He panted hard to recover before he finally spoke. "A visitor. We have a visitor, at the entrance."

"Oh? Who is it?" Komui said, unperturbed.

Reever frowned. "We don't know. Whoever that person is, he or she just stood there without saying anything. He or she is wearing a hood too- the golem at the entrance couldn't transmit the face to us, so we couldn't match it to the database."

"Guess I'll have to go check it out," Komui sighed. "Lenalee, come with me. You coming too, Allen?"

Allen shrugged, then got distracted by the sight of Jerry carrying a huge tray full of food through the crowd. "Maybe I'll join you all later," he suggested, his eyes following Jerry hungrily.

Lenalee shook her head at Allen in amusement, and followed Komui.

Before long, they arrived at the science labs, having amassed a few curious others who joined along the way.

Komui blinked in surprise at the small figure on the image projected before him. "But it's just a child!"

"Brother, Akuma can take the form of anyone," Lenalee warned.

"Of course I know that," Komui waved off the reminder as he smiled lovingly at Lenalee. "Now, business."

Komui cleared his throat and spoke in the microphone. "Who are you? Identify yourself, and state what business you have with the Order."

Finally, the figure moved, and spoke lowly. "I need to see the Head Officer immediately." The soft volume made it impossible to distinguish whether the visitor was male or female.

"You haven't exactly answered," Komui pointed out.

"I need to speak with the Head Officer. Now, please." The figure insisted.

Those who were crowded around the projected image looked at one another, then at Komui.

"What now?" Reever asked.

Komui shrugged. "Put the visitor through the Gatekeeper's test then. Gatekeeper!"

Outside, the tall gates guarding the new Headquarters responded.

"Alestina Drow Joanason P. Robathan Gia Amadeus V at your service!" What on first sight seemed to be a hideous carving on the gates awakened and shifted to form an equally-hideous face.

"Nothing gets through me, you know," The Fifth Gatekeeper bragged in a booming voice.

Everyone down in the Science Department sighed at the thought of having to listen to another of the Gatekeeper's long spiels.

"Get on with it, Gatekeeper," Komui said sharply.

"Oh, all right. No one appreciates me around here," the Gatekeeper muttered ominously. He frowned down at the slight figure. "Take off the hood, will you?"

The figure hesitated, and then sighed in annoyance. It then threw off the hood and parted the cloak slightly to reveal a young girl. Her dark brown hair cascaded around her in waves, and her pale blue eyes were clouded with irritation.

Down below, Johnny sniggered. "If Lavi were here, he'd be yelling 'Strike!' right about now."

"Lavi prefers older women, remember?" Krory pointed out.

Above, the Gatekeeper's test started.

Barely a minute later, however, the Gatekeeper started to shriek his head off. Together with the sirens blaring and the lights flashing, it was a real riot.

"An Akuma! She's an Akuma! God, someone save me, I beg you, get her away from me!" He howled.

At that, everyone in the Science Department started. "Is he for real?" Reever wondered.

"No way, no Akuma would dare to approach the Headquarters alone." A random techie called out.

Lenalee raised a brow at Komui. "Brother…" Her tone held a ring of warning.

Komui raised his hands in surrender. "I swear, I didn't receive anything this time… I think."

Reever ran his hand through his hair and sighed deeply. "You there, and you, start searching Komui's rubbish-pile of a desk."

Komui pouted at the fact that no one believed him (who would, really?) and then resumed command. "Gatekeeper, why do you think she's an Akuma?"

"She has the mark of the pentacle on her! Everyone knows that the pentacle is a sign of Akuma!"

"Another cursed one like Allen?" Noise Marie pondered.

Above ground, the girl raised her hand. "You mean this?"

By now, everyone was staring at her right hand with a morbid intensity. There was indeed a black scar in the shape of a pentacle on her palm.

A moment of silence-

Then everyone started speaking at once, panicking.

"She's not denying it! Is she really an Akuma?"

"No way, she's alone!" This was said with uncertainty.

"Is this a trap? Are there other Akumas surrounding us right now?"

Komui took control once more. "Hey, hey, don't start coming up with wild guesses. Johnny, run up and fetch Allen. Exorcists, standby please- just in case."

Lenalee spoke up. "Kanda should be coming back anytime now- he reported success on his mission a while ago."

Komui laughed. "Speak of the devil, Lenalee- look who's back."

On cue, Kanda appeared scowling on the screen, Mugen invocated and at the ready.

The girl turned around and faced Kanda, her face emotionless.

"What guts you have, Akuma, approaching the Black Order on your own." Kanda sneered.

The girl remained silent, her wide eyes staring at Kanda, a slight frown between her brows. "…Mugen?"

Kanda was taken aback, but recovered almost instantly. "So I see you've heard of my Innocence, huh? Good. Wouldn't want you to die without knowing what killed you, would we?" He said smugly, a smirk on his face.

Then, without warning, he struck.

Instinctively, everyone down below winced, expecting bright light, or at least an explosion. When nothing of that sort happened, a gasp ran through the audience.

"She… she held him off…"

"With a couple of daggers…?" Another lab assistant said uncertainly.

Everyone squinted at the screen to see that that was true.

A look of surprise ran through Kanda's face, before fading into one of disbelief. The girl actually blocked his katana with the blades of two sleek, silver daggers that appeared out of nowhere.

Kanda's eyes narrowed in determination and forced his katana down harder. When the girl resisted with equal strength, he changed tactics and leapt over her, going for her back. Yet, she blocked each and every move swiftly and calmly.

Everyone was staring at the screen in fascination- who'd believe that a mere girl could hold off Kanda, a great swordsman and one of their best Exorcists, with two mere daggers?

Unless…

Miranda spoke up timidly. "Those daggers aren't Innocence, are they?"

"Most likely not. They don't look like they have Innocence in them… In any case, we'd have records of all the weapons we made with Innocence fragments, and I don't recall these daggers. Right, Reever?" Komui turned to Reever, and the latter nodded in agreement.

"But then again, no ordinary daggers could have withstood Kanda's Mugen," Komui mused, turning back to the screen. "These daggers must have been specially made to withstand Innocence."

"So is she a friend or foe?" Another random lab techie spoke up in frustration.

Just then, Allen stumbled in through the doorway, having been pushed through by Johnny. No one looked away from the screen.

"Just in time, Allen," Lenalee waved him over, her eyes still glued to the fight. "Check if that girl is an Akuma, please."

"Sure thin- Whoa! Is she fighting Kanda? Ha, that loser doesn't seem to be winning, does he? Must have-"

"Allen," Lenalee reminded patiently.

"Oh, right. Okay." Allen activated his cursed eye. "Nope, not an Akuma."

They gazed up at the screen in wonderment. What _was_ she?

Allen got fidgety. "Shouldn't we _stop_ Kanda, now that we know she's not an Akuma?"

Krory gave a small laugh, and dug Allen in the ribs. "Déjà vu, Allen?"

Obviously, Krory had been told of how Allen arrived at the Headquarters. Allen scowled, part consternation, part resignation.

"Alright," Komui decided. "Let's stop this before they kill each other off."

"I don't think so," Lenalee pointed out reasonably. "For one, she's just defending, and quite well, I must admit. For another, we still don't know if she's an enemy or not." She hesitated, and then leaned over the microphone. "Please tell us who sent you, at least. We don't want to hurt you if you're a friend of ours."

The girl paused in the fighting- a split-second opportunity that Kanda took at once, before the girl recovered and blocked his attack. "Renee Epsteine, Black Order, North America Branch Head," she called out.

Komui clapped his hands together. "Well, that settles it. Kanda! Stop and let her in, please. Gatekeeper, open the gates."

"But… But…" The Gatekeeper pleaded.

"No buts. Now, please."

"Aha, Kanda, you loser!" Allen crowed into the microphone, having snatched it from Komui.

Kanda stopped immediately and glared into the golem. "Why you… Damned beansprout! You just wait!" With that, he stalked through the reluctantly-opened gates.

The girl wasted no time hurrying in after him.

Lenalee came up to welcome the girl, Allen to gloat.

"I thought you were a good swordsman, eh?"

"Gah," Kanda grunted irritably, and glared at Allen. "Shut the hell up, idiot beansprout."

"It's _ALLEN_!"

The electricity sparking between their eyes was hostile enough to deter direct interference. Lenalee sighed, and put her hand on Allen's shoulder. "Allen…" She said warningly.

Allen broke away from the stare-down reluctantly. Kanda took the opportunity to swivel around and stalk off huffily.

"Mugen," The visitor called out. Kanda paused, momentarily surprised.

"Take good care of your katana."

Allen gaped, Lenalee looked surprised and Kanda simply looked annoyed.

"As if I need you to tell me that," he muttered and proceeded to stride off.

Lenalee sighed, and smiled apologetically at the girl. "I'm sorry about him. He's always cranky after missions."

"No way, that's what you told me too. He's cranky _all _the time." Allen objected. Lenalee ignored him, and held her hand out politely for the visitor's cloak.

The girl blinked at Lenalee, uncomprehending, until she realized what Lenalee was trying to do. She then took off her cloak, revealing a slender figure with a bow strapped on her back. Lenalee took the cloak and gestured at the bow. "Your Innocence?"

The girl hesitated, opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it again.

"Why didn't you use it earlier?" Allen asked, curious, taking her silence as assent. "But your skills with the daggers were really fantastic." He gave her a friendly smile.

The girl shook her head. "I need to speak with the Head Officer, immediately. Please take me straight to him." She looked at Allen and Lenalee straight in the eye. For the first time, her pale blue eyes betrayed a hint of emotion- that of utter exhaustion.

"Sure," Lenalee said with a kind smile. "Do you want to put away your daggers first?"

The girl looked down to see that she still held them, one in each hand. She bent over to slide them back in her calf-length boots, where four more awaited.

Bad mistake.

A wave of dizziness swept over her, and she swayed on her feet. Once more, her world was claimed by darkness.

-

**a/n: **Hope you enjoyed reading that! Once again, do review- I need to know if this is interesting enough to develop further!


	3. Curiosity killed the cat

**a/n**: My thanks goes out to GoGothGirl and MsLightfairyprincess. You wouldn't believe how happy the reviews made me =)

And of course, I don't own any DGM characters. They belong to Hoshino-sensei, unfortunately.

-

**.curiosity killed the cat.**

Her eyes snapped open. Lenalee and Allen stared down at her, surprised. Allen blinked. "That was fast."

Lenalee leaned over her anxiously. "Are you alright now?"

She gazed at Lenalee warily, still confused. She raised her hand automatically to her neck, and took mental inventory of her physical condition. Everything seemed alright. What had happened?

"You fainted about an hour ago," Allen smiled down at her, answering her unspoken question. His gray eyes were soft, concerned. "The medical team thinks it's from exhaustion. You feeling better now?"

She put her hand to her head, wincing at her headache. Just then, Komui busted in through the door. "Is she awake yet? I need to talk to her, I just spoke to Renee on the phone- oh." He caught sight of her, already trying to sit up.

She met him in the eye, and smiled faintly. "I was just about to ask to speak to you."

"Brother…" Lenalee said hesitantly. "Maybe this is not the best time. She needs rest."

"Lenalee," he sighed heavily, and fell into subdued silence. After a while, he turned back to face the visitor, speaking gravely. "I hope you understand. I have to speak to you right away."

The visitor nodded calmly, her face wiped free of emotion once more. She tried to get off the bed, but stumbled, her knees giving out under her. Allen caught her. "If you'd like, I could come with you to act as a crutch," he offered, kind eyes twinkling.

Komui cleared his throat. "No offense, Allen, but I'd prefer it if you weren't involved."

"Lenalee, then?"

Komui glanced apologetically at Lenalee. "Sorry, Lenalee…"

Lenalee smiled, but her eyes looked puzzled. "Sure, Brother."

As Komui helped the strange visitor out the door and down the hallway, Lenalee and Allen looked at each other with surprise.

"I never thought I'd see the day when Komui doesn't want you around, Lenalee." Allen cracked a smile, part-amused, part-wonderment.

Lenalee bit on her lower lip thoughtfully. "Me neither."

***

Komui settled into his chair behind his desk, shoved aside some piles of paper so he could see before him, and looked at the visitor on the couch across from him with grave eyes.

"Renee told me everything she knew." Pause. "She didn't send a letter in advance because she heard of what happened with Allen Walker," he added sheepishly. "I'm really sorry about that, though. She really should have given advanced notice."

The visitor nodded in acknowledgement.

Komui's tone turned serious. "What of the group of Finders that she sent to escort you?" He leaned forward.

Her eyes dimmed with sadness. "They… they died. We got ambushed by a group of Akuma on the way here," she spoke quietly.

Komui clenched his hands on the table, eyes suddenly tense. "They didn't…?"

"No, I don't think they knew," she assured him flatly. "I think they were just attracted to the large group of Finders. There weren't any other Exorcists at the North America Branch."

"Did you… use it?"

Her eyes closed, and she bowed her head. "No. I… I ran away. The Finders distracted them for me."

He prompted her silently.

She took a deep breath, and continued. "After all the Akuma left, I came back, but they… they were all dead." Her voice turned toneless. Dead, even. She looked up at Komui, eyes anguished, pleading.

Komui surveyed her, his eyes softening with empathy, and shared grief. "It was the right choice, ultimately." He sighed heavily. "We can't afford to let the other side get wind of this."

They sat in silence for a while.

"After that, you came alone to the Headquarters?"

She shrugged. "I had no choice," she whispered. She looked up worriedly at Komui. "I came here as fast as I could-"

"I know," Komui interrupted with a smile. "The medical team told me you appeared to have travelled for several days straight."

Silence.

"Even without taking into consideration your exhaustion, you put up a great fight against Kanda," he offered, trying to make the situation lighter, less awkward. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

She cracked a small smile.

"Renee taught you combat?"

She nodded.

"Ha, I knew it. She's an expert in armed combat. And the daggers?"

"The Science Department over there made them for me, to Renee's exact specifications."

He smiled and nodded. "I would've expected that of her."

He paused, then added quietly, "I hope you don't mind, but I'll have to bring you to Hevlaska first, and then we'll have to examine you and run some tests before I can let you rest."

She looked up at him, her eyes resuming their blank, emotionless state. He sighed, got up, and gestured for her to follow him.

***

Allen plopped down at the table, his multiple trays following suit. "Eating boring old soba again, Kanda? Don't you ever get tired of it?"

Kanda bristled, irked, but decided to ignore him for once.

Allen tch-ed him before turning his attention to Lenalee, tucking into the first of his overloaded breakfast trays at the same time. "So? Have you heard anything of the new girl yet?" he mumbled through a mouth half-full with omelet.

Lenalee shook her head. "I haven't heard anything about her since she came the day before yesterday."

"Didn't you ask Komui?" He questioned further.

Her tone was troubled. "He totally evaded the question. When I persisted, he said he couldn't tell me anything." She hesitated, and then added, "Brother has never kept anything from me before."

"Boy, do we know."

The sound of eating (of well, Allen eating, really) reigned at the table. Mere minutes later, Allen pushed aside his last tray, burping loudly with satisfaction and rubbing his tummy happily.

"Disgusting, beansprout." Kanda muttered darkly.

"What, you have a problem with me showing my appreciation for a delicious meal? Blame yourself for eating soba all the time. And how many times must I tell you, it's Allen!"

"Why, you…"

"Stop it, you two," Lenalee interrupted, exasperated. "Seriously, you squabble like an old couple. There are more important things at hand here."

The bickering couple broke apart their stare, looked down at Lenalee, and then sat back down again. Kanda looked away huffily. "Che."

"You mean about the new girl…?" Allen asked curiously. "What's so important about her?"

"In case you didn't realize, _beansprout_, no one from the Science section has been seen since the girl arrived."

Lenalee nodded. "Kanda's right, Allen. I couldn't find anyone from Intelligence and Medical either. All of the Generals arrived at the Headquarters after she came, too." She glanced at Allen. "Except General Cross."

Allen, predictably, gave a loud moan at the mention of the dreaded name.

Lenalee continued as if she hadn't heard. "There must be something really important going on that we don't know about." She sighed, leaning her face on her left palm, petulant. "I've never felt so out of the loop."

"Tell me about it! The old man refuses to tell me anything!" A loud, familiar voice complained. Allen and Lenalee started; Kanda continued eating. A red-headed boy pranced to the table and pounced on Allen, enveloping him in a huge hug. "Allen! Lenalee! Yu! Long time no see, huh? What's up?"

"Lavi? I thought you were with Bookman, covering some human war?" Allen exclaimed.

"Yeah, we _were_, until Komui told us-no, demanded that we return immediately," he grumbled. "That old panda refused to tell me anything else. The minute we got back, he went off on his own to some big meeting with the higher-ups. He even told me I couldn't come," he sulked.

The three of them gazed at on another with wide eyes; Kanda, naturally, ignored them and continued eating.

"What exactly has been going on?" Lavi said in a loud whisper, leaning closer to the others, his green eyes alive with avid curiosity. The others filled him in on the girl's arrival.

He gave a low whistle when they finished. "Must be some bigshot, huh? What's her name?"

Allen and Lenalee looked at each other before shrugging. "We don't know."

"Her age?"

"Don't know either."

"Jeez, do you guys know anything?"

"We _do_ know that she was sent by Renee Epsteine, the Black Order North America Branch Head, though," Lenalee offered.

Allen cut in smugly, "And that Kanda couldn't even touch her with Mugen." His grey eyes danced with glee.

"Shut _up_, beansprout," Kanda growled.

"Wow, Yu, really? I'm impressed with her already." Lavi raised his brow in mock shock.

"Seriously, though," he continued, ignoring Kanda's growl and subsequent muttered threats. "We'll have to find out what's going on. The suspense is driving me _crazy_." He grabbed his red hair and widened his eyes in mock horror.

"We probably won't have to wait long," Lenalee assured the others. "Brother will tell us soon enough. I'm sure of it."

***

The next day, the dining hall was filled with whispers during breakfast. Allen, Lenalee and Lavi walked in together, and immediately felt the tension.

"What's going on, Jerry?" Lavi leaned against the counter pseudo-casually.

"Don't you know? It's the new girl. Aye, she's a cute one, eh?" Jerry gestured to the far end of the hall with a spatula. They swiveled round, only to see the new girl sitting alone at a table with a tray piled high with food. The tables around her were also empty. Lavi frowned.

"Has an appetite just like you, Allen. You'll get along nicely with her, eh?" Jerry laughed, and proceeded to take down Allen's long _long_ order.

"Wait- why is she sitting alone like that?" Lavi interrupted Allen's attempt to list every single food that ever existed.

"You guys didn't hear the rumors?" Jerry asked. They shook their heads. Jerry lowered his voice into a whisper. "They're saying that she left an entire team of Finders to die during an Akuma attack. Personally, I don't believe such a cute girl would do that, but well…" He shrugged. "Guess no one else thought that way."

Allen and Lenalee frowned. Lavi grinned cheerfully, unperturbed, a familiar gleam coming into his eyes. "No way, she's too cute for that. Let's go sit beside her!"

Allen and Lenalee shared amused looks, took their trays and followed Lavi as he rushed over to the new girl, and plunked himself right across her. The remaining two settled themselves around her.

"Hi! My name is Lavi, I'm Bookman Jr. What's your name?" Lavi stuck out his hand in a friendly manner. The new girl looked taken aback by Lavi's enthusiasm, and hurriedly buried herself in the food before her.

"See, you scared her off, Lavi." Allen turned to the new girl. "You've met me before, remember? My name is-"

"I know what your name is," she murmured. She looked up, cautious. "I know all of your names. You're Crown Clown, aren't you? And you're Dark Boots. And you, you have the weirdest name- Big Hammer Small Hammer. Is Lavi your first or last name?"

Their eyes widened in shock- Allen and Lavi went as far as to drop their jaws.

"What- How- Why-" Lavi stammered.

The new girl ducked her head. "I don't know why, but I just know. And it's only a few of you- I can't tell with the others."

Lenalee recovered from the shock first. "Actually, somehow, what you knew were the names of our Innocence fragments. My name is actually Lenalee Lee. Komui Lee is my brother." She smiled prettily, and held out her hand.

The new girl looked at the proffered hand warily, and shook her head. "Lenalee Lee?" she repeated cautiously.

Lenalee's hand faltered awkwardly, and her smile faded. "Well… yes. And he's Allen, Allen Walker," she pointed.

"Allen Walker. And Lavi, right?" She peered into each of their faces as she spoke their names. Lavi's mouth opened, and closed again. It was then that she realized that Lenalee and Lavi's outstretched hands were still, well, sort of outstretched.

"I'm sorry, but Komui wanted to keep me away from other people as of now," she whispered hesitantly. "I can't imagine how the others knew, though." She looked around at the surrounding people who were obviously eavesdropping.

Allen, Lenalee and Lavi looked at one another guiltily- there was no way they could tell her the real reason people were avoiding her.

"So," Lenalee said brightly, trying to change the subject. "How old are you?"

The girl hesitated, seeming to have some sort of internal struggle. Evidently, the side that thought it was a harmless question to answer won out- she said lowly, "Fifteen."

Lavi blinked. Fifteen? She'd looked more mature than that, maybe one or two years older. "Say, Allen," he realized with a laugh, and thumped Allen on the back. "You're no longer the youngest Exorcist around!"

"Hey, watch it! I'm eating here!"

Lenalee and Lavi laughed, while the new girl watched their interactions curiously.

"Say, you never got around to telling us your nam-"

"Evans!" A blond young man called out sharply in the doorway of the hall. The new girl flushed and hurried to gather all her plates. Lavi placed a hand on her arm and said warmly, green eyes twinkling, "Don't worry about it- we'll clean up for you."

She muttered a grateful thanks, and hurried off with the eyes of the entire hall following her. When she was gone, Allen, Lenalee and Lavi looked at one another once more, eyes wide with raging curiosity.

"Great- Link is back now. Does that mean Leverrier's here too?" Allen groaned.

"No worries," Lavi told him. "From the looks of it, they're interested in Evans now. I wonder what her first name is…." He mused.

"This matter is way bigger than I imagined," Lenalee frowned uncharacteristically. "Even Leverrier is in on it." She tapped her fingers impatiently on the table. "Who could she possibly be…?"

"She could be a new Exorcist- she didn't deny it earlier, when I mentioned it," Lavi pointed out.

"That still doesn't explain all the fuss now," Allen objected.

They sighed simultaneously and gave up thinking, resigning themselves to finishing off their food.

-

**a/n: **Once again, please click on the adorable little review button below! It's just waiting eagerly to be clicked. Seriously.

This is a bit of filler, I know. Uninteresting, but necessary for the build-up. I swear, the next chapters will be more exciting XP


	4. In orbit

**a/n:** Happy Lunar New Year's Eve to all and sundry, regardless of whether you celebrate it or not =) Enjoy, and as always, do review. Thanks once again to GoGothGirl who's being the awesomest reviewer ever!

--

**.in orbit.**

Lavi gulped as he took in the swarm of Akuma currently surrounding him and Allen. Sometimes he wished that he had _both_ eyes covered so he wouldn't have to see this kind of thing. Then again, it probably wasn't a good idea to fight this many Akuma blind. "How many, Allen?"

Allen scanned the crowd with his activated left eye, posture tense, Crown Clown at the ready.. "Twelve, and around seven more on the way." He glanced at Lavi beside him, taking in his battered state, and mentally sighed. He knew he wasn't much better off himself.

Lavi sighed, but slowly smirked and raised his Anti-Akuma weapon, eyes narrowed in determination. "Great- more Akuma ass to kick, then."

***

"Boy, I'm whooped," Lavi complained, his hand running through his ginger-brown hair. His posture was slumped; his visible eye was half-closed in exhaustion. He pushed off against the wall every now and then to get what scant momentum he could from the action; his legs felt distinctly gel-like at the moment.

"Talk about it," Allen moaned, his hand rubbing soothing circles on his protesting tummy. "I'm starving!" Right on cue, his tummy gave out a loud growl.

They trudged down the hallway to Komui's office, and knocked on the door.

"Come in," a distinctly female voice called out.

"You again, Lenalee?" Allen leaned against the doorframe, peering into the messy room. As always, it was piled high with paper; everything was covered in them. Not one inch of the floor was visible. Lenalee stood out against the white, clothed in her dark Exorcist uniform. It looked like she had just returned from a mission as well.

Lavi strolled in past Allen, not bothering to heed the paper he was treading on and tossed the retrieved Innocence at Lenalee, who caught it gracefully. "I bet Komui's slacking off again, eh?"

Lenalee smiled, though her brows were knitted together with worry. "Far from it. He's down in the Science Department again." She cleared a small section of Komui's cluttered desk and set the Innocence vessel down on it.

Lavi groaned, and slumped onto the couch, eyes closed. "Just when I wanted to speak to him about all these missions we were getting." He pulled his long legs up and over the raised arms of the couch and tucked an arm behind his head, sighing in satisfaction at the comfort of the couch.

Allen frowned, holding a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah… Come to think about it, how come we're getting so many missions lately? This mission was the fourth in two weeks!"

"Yeah, and consecutively too! We didn't even get to rest in between…" Lavi whined.

"Don't complain- the other Exorcists are working as hard as we are," Lenalee reprimanded them laughingly, trying her best to tidy up some of the scattered piles of paper.

Lavi opened an eye and turned his head to look at Lenalee. "… The new Exorcist too?"

Lenalee's smile faltered. "Well… no. Komui hasn't sent her on any missions yet." Her hands tightened ever so slightly around the sheaf of papers she as holding.

Allen raised a brow. "Does this mean you've seen her since that day at breakfast, two weeks ago?"

"Well… no."

Lavi folded his arms behind his head. "We could just ask him…" he hinted helpfully.

Allen snorted. "Yeah, and how likely is it that he'll just answer all of our questions? Since that girl came, Komui's hardly talked to us. Besides mission briefings, which have been briefer than ever, I haven't exactly seen much of him." He paused and frowned. "In fact, if I didn't know better, it would seem like he was trying to avoid me. Avoid us. Like, to prevent us from prying or something."

Lavi and Lenalee's eyes widened with realization.

"That's it!" Lavi exclaimed, leaning forward enthusiastically.

"Huh? What's it-"

"What is the meaning of this, Komui- oh." Kanda shoved open the door and stalked in, only to stop in his tracks. He blinked, and looked around, his sleek ponytail swishing with his motion. "Komui?"

"He's not here. Obviously, idiot Kanda." Allen informed him sarcastically.

Kanda started in Allen's direction, burning glare in place, growl roiling in his throat. He placed his hand squarely on Mugen, and made to draw it out.

"Hey, hey, none of that here," Lenalee called out, placating. "What's going on, Kanda?"

Kanda spoke with a ring of annoyance. "Training Hall 1 has been cordoned off for over a week already. Komui told me that it's out of bounds to everyone but authorized personnel." His left eye twitched irritatedly, sporadically. It was obviously he was really annoyed; as opposed to just annoyed, which was how he was the rest of the time.

Lenalee wrinkled her brow. "Yes, that's right. Komui said it was closed for renovations." She looked up at Kanda curiously. "What's wrong?"

Kanda said shortly, "Then why is it that when I went to train earlier, I heard sounds of sparring in there?"

"Only you would train even with all these missions, Yu." Lavi groaned. He wiggled deeper into the couch cushions. Mm… they were starting to feel really comfortable. He briefly contemplated falling asleep right there and then.

"I know you think of Hall 1 as your territory, Kanda, but aren't you overreacting? You probably heard wrongly," Allen commented.

Kanda continued as if he hadn't heard anything, which was most unbecoming of him. "- and then I saw that new girl coming out of there too."

That got everyone's attention. Lavi raised his head from the couch to look over curiously at the others.

"Furthermore, I've been hearing sounds from _that_ corridor." Kanda looked meaningfully at Lenalee. Lenalee placed her hand over her mouth in a soundless gasp.

"What? What corridor?" Allen demanded, clueless. He shifted his gaze from Lenalee to Kanda, and then back to Lenalee again.

Lenalee closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Remember when I took you on that tour on your first day here, Allen? There was a corridor of rooms that I avoided and told you that you didn't need to know about, right?"

Allen frowned, a deep slash between his brows. "Yeah, and?"

Lenalee forced the words through clenched teeth. "Remember the experiments on the Non-Accommodators I told you about? The ones that created Fallen Ones?"

Allen nodded, uncomprehending. Lavi's eyes widened with realization, and he stiffened automatically. Bookman, together with Komui, had mentioned those experiments before. They were a part of the Order's dark history; he'd thought those days were over when Komui arrived at the Order.

"Those experiments were carried out in those rooms in that corridor, Allen," she whispered, her voice wavering. She leaned onto the table heavily, her legs seeming to give out under her.

Allen's mouth fell open in shock. "Does that mean that they're carrying out those experiments again?" he demanded. He had been so sickened, so _revolted_ when he had found out that the Order used to conduct such cruel, inhumane experiments in order to strengthen their side in hopes of triumphing over the Earl. If he found out that they were doing it again… His already-unhappy stomach roiled further.

Kanda shook his head, eyes darkening. "Not necessarily. The experiment rooms can be used for other experiments, of course."

Lavi spoke up. "How did that new girl look when you saw her earlier?" His visible green eye was intent, thoughtful. His mind raced. Maybe there was a connection to all the strange happenings of late, and the new girl. Scratch that- they _had_ to be linked. He knew it.

Kanda sniffed haughtily, thought to ignore that stupid rabbit, then reluctantly spoke. "A bit battered, in some places bandaged. What's it to you?"

"Did you ever wonder how come we haven't been seeing Komui around lately, Kanda?" Lavi spoke, his words coming faster. "Or how he seems to be avoiding us in his efforts to hide something?"

Komui opened his mouth, then closed it again. They sat in silence for a while, absorbing it all in.

"Ah, what a gathering we have here. To whom do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Komui strode in jovially, carrying his usual cup of coffee. He brightened visibly at the sight of Lenalee, and promptly rushed to her side, flinging his arms open for a hug.

"Ah! Lavi and Allen came back from their mission, Brother. It was a success this time," Lenalee smiled, held out the Innocence and subtly edged away from his beckoning arms.

"Komui," Lavi began. "We've been wanting to talk to you about all these missions…"

"And about Training Hall 1…" Kanda added.

Komui took one look at all of their serious faces, grabbed the Innocence from Lenalee, stole a huge bear-hug from her which left her gasping and backed away hastily.

"Ah, excellent, I'll get this to Hevlaska right away, she'll be glad to have found another one…"

And with that, he bolted out of the room.

The others slumped their shoulders in resignation. Lavi sulked, a petulant expression crossing his tired face. "We're no closer to solving this mystery, are we…?"

***

Lavi sat up in bed with a sigh. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep tonight, despite the exhaustion that had claimed him earlier. He pushed aside his sheets, got out of bed and padded in his bunny slippers to the door. Slipping through the door and closing it quietly behind him, he stepped into the common corridor.

"That new girl mystifies me," he muttered, frowning as he started to walk. He ruffled his hair absently as his Bookman brain started to analyze every detail he gathered so far, racing through every thought with a mechanical precision.

_Training Hall 1 is supposed to be closed, yet the new girl was seen coming out._

_The experiment rooms are being used again._

_The gathering of the Generals, as well as Leverrier and Link._

_The abundance of missions._

_The hurry for us Bookmen to get back._

_The old panda's silence._

_Komui's evasiveness._

_Everything revolves around the new girl's arrival._

_Who… is she?_

A quiet click interrupted his thoughts. He glanced up, startled, to see a small figure slip out of the infirmary. He hadn't thought that anyone else would be up- it was the middle of the night. A smile slowly spread across his face as he registered the identity of his fellow night-wanderer. _Speak of the devil._

He followed her, a safe distance behind, while she walked silently, swiftly.

_I wonder where she's going in the middle of the night?_

As she strode down the corridor, the light from a nearby lamp threw her into sharp relief. Lavi caught himself stifling a gasp before he recovered rapidly.

_A bit battered?_ _In some places bandaged? _Kanda's comments had nothing on what he was seeing right now.

Almost every exposed part of her was either swathed in bandages or purple with bruises. His sharp eyes caught the way her arm wound itself around her torso- almost as if it was trying to hold her body together. As they walked, he picked out more details- the way her hands and fingers trembled ever so slightly, her fevered breathing, though she tried to keep that in check, the slight sheen of sweat forming over her brow…

Finally, she stopped- right in front of Training Hall 1.

"You're in no condition to train," he said lowly, stepping out of the shadows. She retracted her hand from the doorknob and turned around sharply. They appraised each other in silence; his green eye curious, her blue ones wary.

"Why are you here?" She spoke at last.

Lavi grinned. "I could ask you the same question," he offered. They stood in silence for a while more, playing the staring game, until she finally broke their stare-down to stride past him coolly, back in the direction they'd come from. He caught up with her easily, his long legs eating up her shorter strides, and walked by her side.

"You know, you never told me your name," he smiled down at her. She ignored him and continued walking.

"…Okay, then, are you a new Exorcist?"

No reply.

"Why'd you come here?"

"How did you get hurt?"

He continued peppering her with questions until they were back at the infirmary. She strode right past it, not bothering to even cast the door a look.

"Hey, the infirmary's here!" he protested, arm reaching for her elbow.

She shook the arm off and turned her eyes up at him. Eyes that were curiously blank. "_I'm sick of that place._" Her tone was cold. Lavi shivered involuntarily.

"Well, then, where do you want to go?" He pushed his hands into his pockets.

She remained silent.

"…You don't know where else to go?" he guessed. She turned her head away from him. He took that as assent. "Come on, I'll bring you somewhere." He started to walk further down the hallway. She hesitated, then followed. This time, they walked in silence.

"Well, here it is. The library." He held open the door for her. She slipped through the door quietly, looked around in the dimness and made her way to one of the window-seats. The soft moonlight shining through the large windows afforded an ethereal look to the usually-austere library.

"Good choice," he commented as she settled into the deep-red cushions. "This window has one of the best views of London," he added as he sat on the same seat, across from her. Though the seat was just wide enough to fit the both of them comfortably, she tucked her knees closer to herself, avoiding any possible contact. He surveyed her cool, aloof demeanor. For some reason, he disliked what he saw. _What happened to the timid, shy girl I met earlier?_

He couldn't quite figure it out, but it was obvious that something had changed since that day at breakfast. In the way she carried herself, her expression, her _eyes_… everything radiated _ice_.

He spoke up. "The way I see it, you owe me two, so you should at least answer two of my questions."

She turned from the view to look at him, eyes carefully blank, and raised a brow.

"One, for bringing you here. Another, for not ratting you out to the Head Nurse."

Her brow was still raised, so he hurried on to elaborate. "The Head Nurse will _chew_ you out for leaving your bed when you're still so seriously injured. You _really _don't want to cross her. Trust me on that." He shuddered when he remembered how the Head Nurse nearly took his head off for doing precisely that, after the destruction of the previous Headquarters. He had lived in fear of the deceptively harmless Head Nurse ever since. Come to think of it, he didn't exactly want to be involved when she found out that he had assisted one of her patients in fleeing the infirmary...

The tips of Evans' lips turned up in a humorless smile. "One. Haven't you noticed?"

He broke away from his memory to look at her. "Notice what?" Then, he really _looked_ at her. The bruises on her exposed skin had visibly lightened, even in the short span of time since he'd met her. He looked down over her whole body, then up again to meet her eyes, surprised, though not too much. He'd known Kanda for years, after all.

"Wha-"

She interrupted, her smile turning into something more like a smirk. "Two. If even Bookman did not see fit to tell you anything, why should I?"

He was taken aback, and pouted. "That was a low blow," he sulked.

Her lips were pressed in a thin line, as if she was trying to keep from laughing. He noticed, and couldn't help but break out into a wide smile. She realized, and immediately, a guarded, almost reproachful look came into her eyes. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, calming her features. When she opened her eyes, her face was emotionless once more.

"Why do you do that?" he whispered, his eyes taking in her swift transformation, fascinated.

Cold eyes stared at him blankly.

He sighed. "Fine."

Then, he perked up. "At least tell me where you're from. You should be able to answer that one, right?"

Her gaze on him was weighted, considering. He waited patiently. The answer came softly, swiftly, but he caught it anyway. "South Carolina."

"Which town?" he persisted.

Her eyes darkened, and she turned her head away quickly. "Arcadia," she whispered.

He wasn't quite sure how to proceed- this seemed to be a bit of a sore spot for her. "So," he began brightly, hoping to lighten the mood, "where did you learn such fantastic combat skills? I heard that even Kanda couldn't touch you." He waited patiently once more.

After a while, the answer tugged reluctantly from her lips. "Renee."

"Renee Epsteine, Black Order North America Branch Head?"

She tilted her head slightly in a small nod. He remained silent, sensing that she hadn't finished speaking. True enough, her lips parted in a whisper. "… And my father."

"Your father taught you combat?" He asked, surprised. He had travelled the world in the course of his Bookman duties, but in this time and age, the average woman wouldn't have had neither the chance nor the permission to touch weaponry. The rare woman that was skilled in such areas would be an assassin, or something of that sort.

A minute lift of her shoulders- she had shrugged, acknowledging his surprise.

"So, how do you find it here?" He asked, curious.

Her eyes darkened once more, and she fidgeted slightly. "I don't know," she whispered, eyes lowered.

"Why did you come here, then?" he persisted, wanting to take advantage of her current willingness to communicate. It appeared to be a wrong move- she closed off once more, her lips firmly pressed shut in a thin line. She stared at the view outside the window coolly, determinedly ignoring the question. He waited, but apparently, that was all he was going to get out of her. He resigned himself with a sigh, and sank deeper, more comfortably into the cushions, taking in the gorgeous view outside the window. Night-time London was really quite a beauty.

They sat like this, in a silence as strange as it was comfortable.

When Lavi began snoring, the girl slipped quietly off the window-seat and out of the room, her skin glowing smooth and unblemished in the pale moonlight.

--

**a/n:** Look forward to the next chapter =)


	5. Pride is a double edged sword

**a/n:** I think it would be appropriate timing to remind all to look up at the genre and think about why there isn't an R word there -yet-. Heh XP Hope you like this chapter; it was an absolute pain to get out. I'm finally understanding why authors don't update as often as I would've liked. X(

And of course, everlasting gratitude to and 22894 iambryce; this chapter is for you.

--

**.pride is a double-edged sword.  
**

It surprised everyone when the new girl turned up for breakfast the next day. Lavi was just massaging out the cricks in his neck and shoulders- stiff from spending the night in the library- when she appeared at their table, carrying a tray laden with food.

"May I sit with you this morning?" Her tone was polite, pleasant enough- but Lavi knew better, and saw right through the empty core.

They were all surprised, but they hid it well enough, and made space for her, enveloping her with their usual banter, trying to make her feel as home as possible. Kanda simply sniffed, and turned to his soba. Lenalee smiled behind her hand, sensing sour grapes. Their conversation flowed smoothly enough, with Lavi and Lenalee well able to hold it up, and Allen contributing whenever his mouth wasn't too full. Yet, despite talking and eating at the same time, Lavi couldn't stop his innate Bookman from _observing _her.

Jerry was right- she _did_ have a voracious appetite, though not as voracious as Allen's. Lavi pondered over this fact- did that mean she was a Parasitic-type, too?

And although they both ate way too much, Allen's eating style was distinct from hers- Allen snarfed everything in sight, table manners out of the window. For her, she ate swiftly, neatly, unobtrusively. If you weren't watching, it would seem like the food was disappearing on its own.

Lavi tuned back to the conversation.

"…I don't know, Allen, but it seems that for now, we're all free for the day." Lenalee replied to something Allen had mumbled around his mouthful of food.

Lavi perked up. "Really? No missions? This is great! What are we going to do?"

"For _now_, Lavi," Lenalee cautioned. "Don't get your hopes up."

"Too late," chimed Allen. "It's a fine day today- shall we go outside? Go to town, or laze around in the gardens. It's been a long time since we had a free day!" He threw out his arms in childlike glee.

Lenalee sighed, resigned in her failed effort to caution, and yet pleased at the thought of having some free time. They fell silent, thinking of the possibilities that the day ahead brought.

"How about you?" Allen broke the silence, directing the question at the new girl. "What are you planning to do today?"

Both Kanda and the new girl looked up. "Training," both replied immediately, simultaneously. They looked surprised when they realized the other had the same reply, at the same time.

Lavi pulled a disgusted face. "Aww, not you too, Evans! It was expected of Yu, but what a waste of a perfectly nice day!"

Kanda muttered under his breath. Whatever he said, it sounded nasty. Allen had no doubt that he was cursing Lavi for the casual use of his name. He was probably still sour over the unresolved result of the fight they had on the new girl's first day too.

The new girl looked unsure. Lavi guessed what she was thinking. "Link called you by your last name that day, at breakfast," he offered by way of explanation.

A hint of relief crept into her features before they smoothed out blankly. "You guys go ahead and have fun," she said seriously, tone perfectly apologetic. If Lavi hadn't known better, he would have thought she sounded genuine.

"What's all this about having fun?" Komui's voice broke in, jovial, yet a little strained. As everyone turned their heads towards the sound, Lavi could see why- Malcolm C. Leverrier was standing next to him. Undoubtedly, they were having a discussion before Komui chose to interrupt.

The tension in the air became palpable- Lavi was all too aware of the way Lenalee unconsciously shifted closer to Kanda, the way her eyes avoided gazing in Leverrier's direction. Lavi couldn't blame her- he knew how Leverrier had treated her before. From the way Allen and Kanda glared openly at Leverrier, not bothering to disguise their hatred, it looked like they were thinking of that too. Allen had even more cause to glare the way he did- Leverrier's distrust of him had made both of them public enemy number one in the other's eyes. Lavi highly doubted that Allen had forgotten about that.

Yet, it seemed that Leverrier had all but forgotten about Allen- his gaze was trained solely at Evans, disapproving. She looked back at him straight in the eye, not seeming to realize nor feel the negativity in his gaze.

Komui broke the tension- he probably didn't even register it, the oblivious fool he was. "Lenalee, were you planning to run off to have fun and leave me all alone?" he whined, staring at Lenalee pleadingly.

Lenalee tried to laugh- it came out strained, awkward. "Brother…"

Unexpectedly, the new girl stood up to explain. "Head Officer. Inspector. We were just wondering what to do after breakfast. Some of them had wanted to go out and have a little fun." Her tone was strangely formal, inflectionless.

Komui's gaze shifted to her- was it Lavi, or did Komui's expression turn a little sad, even resigned? "What about you, Evans?"

Leverrier's stare turned even more disapproving, if that were possible. Evans smiled blankly and shrugged her slender shoulders. "Kanda and I had the same idea of training."

Leverrier visibly relaxed- his gaze had turned approving, then calculating. His eyes narrowed into serpentine slits in contemplation. "Training… yes. Yes, what an excellent idea. A live sparring partner," he mused, hand to his chin, moustache quivering in concentration. Everyone else stared at him, unsure of where this was going to lead- everyone except Evans, who seemed unbothered. She had sat back down and resumed her meal, eating quickly, neatly as before.

Leverrier came to a decision, snapping his fingers. "A sparring match, between Yu Kanda and Syrona Evans. Yes, an excellent idea." His eyes gleamed ominously. "This will be _very _interesting to watch."

Komui, Lenalee, Lavi and Allen gasped simultaneously. Kanda looked surprised, then smirked, accepting the indirect challenge readily. A flicker of displeasure flitted over Evans' face.

"Leverrier," Komui began, but was interrupted by a wave of Leverrier's hand.

"No harm, Komui, no harm." He raised a brow at Komui, as if daring him to object.

Komui remained silent, frowning in defeat.

"Well, then, I'll see you in Training Hall 1 after breakfast." Leverrier's commanding gaze wandered from face to face at the table, lingered on Evans. She stared straight in front of her, unresponsive, as Leverrier strode out of the dining hall, Komui following close behind.

Lavi made a face. "What on earth was _that_ all about?"

Kanda stood up, took his tray and cleared it, and stalked out of the dining hall in typical Kanda-manner.

Lenalee leaned over towards Evans. "Syrona? Are you alright-"

"_Evans."_ The girl cut Lenalee off in a harsh whisper. Lenalee blinked in surprise. Evans noticed, and took a deep breath. When she next opened her mouth, her tone was calm, controlled. "Please, call me Evans."

Lenalee nodded slowly. "Evans. Alright."

Evans stood up and proceeded to walk off to clear her trays. Allen called out, "Hey, where are you going?"

She turned her head slightly. "To prepare, of course. Isn't Yu Kanda the best swordsman you have here?" Her tone was matter-of-fact, with a hint of amusement.

Those remaining at the table watched her exit. Allen shook his head. "I don't know about you guys, but there's no way I'm going to miss this match."

Lavi laughed. "Yeah, we'd better be there to stop Kanda from going berserk on her."

Lenalee smiled brightly. "Then, shall we proceed?"

***

When they walked into Training Hall 1 a while later, Lenalee, Lavi and Allen were surprised by the changes. Golems were set up everywhere, and a newly-erected gallery of sorts stood with a perfect view of the arena. There was an Operations booth in the middle of the gallery, filled with all sorts of machinery and equipment. Kanda and Evans stood in the middle of the arena, each absorbed in preparations.

Komui called out to the trio, "Come on up here!" and waved them up to the gallery, where Leverrier and Link were already waiting. Lavi glanced into the observation box. _So this is where all the Science Department people disappeared to._

Allen leaned eagerly over the bars that ran around the gallery. "Go for it, Evans! Thrash Kanda flat!"

Komui turned to him solemnly, and wagged his finger. "No no, don't distract them." Then he turned to Lenalee and threw himself into her arms. "Lenalee! I'm so glad you came!"

Lenalee laughed, embarrassed, and tried to pull Komui off her. Allen and Lavi gladly helped. "Brother, don't you have work to do?"

Komui pouted sulkily. "Fine."

"Fine is right!" Reever called out. "Get back in here, Head Officer," he demanded from the Ops booth. As Komui dragged his feet back into the booth, the others turned their attention back to the arena. Kanda unsheathed Mugen and set the scabbard aside. On the other side of the arena, Evans laced up her calf-length boots tightly and reached with her right hand for a longsword that was lying at her side.

Allen looked at Lavi and Lenalee and put a hand to the side of his mouth, whispering, "So, what do you guys think?" He grinned evilly, his dark side surfacing. "I'm betting on Evans."

Both Lavi and Lenalee shuddered at the dark look on Allen's face.

"Allen," Lenalee scolded gently. "It's not nice to bet like that."

Lavi pondered over Allen's words. This match was unbelievably even. Kanda was, without a doubt, one of the best swordsmen he had ever seen- and that was saying a lot, considering Lavi had travelled the world in the course of his Bookman duties. Still, if he went by what Allen had bragged about Evans, she wasn't so bad in combat herself. Anyone who could fend off Kanda without a single injury would be a worthy opponent. Nevertheless, today, she wasn't defending, and no one had seen her with a sword yet.

Even their weapons were quite evenly matched. Kanda's Mugen, a katana famed for its extraordinary sharpness and cutting ability. Evans' longsword, a quick, effective and versatile weapon capable of deadly thrusts, slices and cuts. A plus point in Evans' favor- the longsword was slightly longer than Mugen. Whether or not she could or would wield this to her advantage was another issue, of course.

Another possible advantage- the longsword was double-edged, while Mugen was single-edged. Then again, Mugen had been with Kanda for a long, long time. From the relative newness of the longsword, Lavi doubted if it had been in the Order for longer than a week.

Foremost of all, there was the fact that both had abnormally quick regenerative abilities-on Evan's part, Lavi witnessed that just the previous night. Leverrier was right- this match would be, to say the least, very interesting.

"They're not using Innocence," Allen pointed out, looking at Mugen, inactivated. Lavi opened his mouth to wonder why, when without warning- as if some silent signal had sounded- the spar started.

Kanda took the offensive, and made the first strike. No surprise, there.

Evans sidestepped the attack swiftly, and went in for a lunge of her own.

The fight was fast-paced like no other. For the observers up in the gallery, their eyes blurred trying to keep up. Lavi gave silent thanks for his Bookman training. Both were excellent swordsmen- that fact was undeniable. Both lunged and retreated, struck and blocked, attacked and parried with unerring precision. Every leap, every bound, every _movement_ was efficient and purposeful.

Everyone in the gallery gasped when Kanda landed the first successful blow- everyone except Leverrier, who was watching the fight with obvious pleasure, his slitted eyes calculating. A gash of red blossomed on Evans' bare arm, where Mugen had struck her. She made no reaction, took no notice of the injury and continued fighting, her face filled with cold resolve.

As if it were a catalyst, the injury brought the fighting up to a whole new level. The strikes and blow on both sides were more brutal, less forgiving. Kanda's eyes focused in determination- he had drawn first blood, and now the fight was _on_.

A slash on his shoulder, a glance off her hips- the injuries accumulated, and, to Lavi's horror, the injuries didn't seem to be healing at all on Evans' part. _What was going on? _Her bruises had healed so quickly the night before- why not now?

They were both panting by now, breathing hard with all their exertions. Evans had kept right up with Kanda's speed, surprising him. In terms of agility, however, Evans held the upper hand- vice versa, for strength.

They paused for breath simultaneously, glaring at each other from opposite sides of the arena. Evans' eyes widened slightly with muted surprise as Kanda's wounds slowly but surely began to heal. Her gaze darted up to find Leverrier, who stared back at her coolly, unsurprised. A hiss escaped from her throat-_ so he had known. _She brushed the distraction off her mind, and leapt straight back into the fight, thrusting, slashing with a certain ruthlessness. Kanda smirked and gave right back what he'd got- blow for blow, strike for strike.

Lenalee shifted uneasily. "Isn't this getting a bit too serious? Maybe we should stop them now…"

Lavi took in the appearance of the two fighting below. Both were visibly worse for the wear- multiple cuts, slashes, grazes, bruises. Evans obviously had it worse, with her injuries nowhere on the way to healing. He opened his mouth to agree, but once again, Leverrier interrupted with a raised hand. "No stopping. The fight goes on."

Lavi closed his mouth, hapless. Lenalee shrank back, and turned to look at the fight meekly, just in time to see Kanda bring down the blunt side of Mugen _hard _on the wrist of Evans' sword-arm. She winced, but kept a firm hold on her longsword. What came next was relatively less expected- Kanda turned his blade to slash her knuckles and raised his right leg to drive hard into Evan's body from her left simultaneously.

The combined pain and impact caused her fingers to flutter from her firm hold, and sent the longsword flying some metres away, clattering against the side of the arena, and bouncing back slightly.

A stunned silence reverberated through the hall.

Everyone waited with bated breath. Kanda bared his teeth in a grin- it was all over. She would try to get the sword back- that was expected- but there wouldn't be enough time for her to do so. He brought his sword back and down to deliver the final slash-

-only to be met by two resounding clashes of metal.

Kanda's eyes widened- as with everyone else in the hall. She didn't even bother with retrieving the sword. Like before, the two silver daggers in her hands held back Mugen- this time, just barely. She panted with the effort, but her lips parted over her teeth in an animalistic grin of her own, her canines gleaming. Summoning all her strength, she shoved back Mugen and Kanda forcefully and skipped backwards swiftly, her hands in a whirl. Her two daggers flew straight at Kanda, mere silver flashes in the air with their speed.

Kanda just barely managed to duck those in time, but by the time he straightened, there were two more daggers in her hands, ready and waiting. A snarl escaped him. "Let's see how long you can hold out with those daggers of yours, eh?" he growled, and made straight for her.

She was purely on the defensive now, her short daggers no match for Mugen's long reach. Nevertheless, she skipped and darted, still light on her feet, backing away from him, blocking every strike swiftly and surely.

Kanda sneered- she may have thought that she could hold him off, but she hadn't noticed that Kanda was forcing her backwards towards one of the walls of the arena. Once she was there, it would all end without a doubt- Mugen's long reach would ensure that. They were reaching the wall by now, Evans's back to the wall, within reach. Kanda's eyes narrowed in victory. He raised Mugen up once more and lunged forward- into the wall.

In the short span of time Kanda had taken to raise his katana, Evans had lifted her foot backwards onto the wall and pushed off, soaring beneath Kanda's left arm. She whirled around in midair, bringing both arms forward, producing _four _silver flashes, flying towards Kanda with unerring speed.

There were five thuds- one large thud for Kanda's body hitting the wall, four more small ones for the daggers that followed swiftly after.

Before Kanda could fully register what had happened, he was already trying to pull himself from the wall- and failing. The daggers had landed a hair's breadth away from his arms- two for each arm, crossed in a way that trapped his upper arms safely under the flat sides of the blades. He gritted his teeth and tried once more, harder this time. Unsurprisingly, the daggers popped out of the wall despite their deep embedment, and fell uselessly to the ground. He started at Evans, a snarl rumbling in his throat, Mugen ready in his hand.

By now, of course, Evans had already somersaulted neatly to her longsword's side and had picked it up. She smiled smugly- he didn't seem to have noticed that she was trying to lead them closer to her fallen sword.

Somehow, no one was surprised when they ended in a standoff, the points of both swords at the other's neck, the length of the longsword making up for Evans' shorter arms. Eyes glaring at each other, they came to a silent, mutual agreement, lowered their swords and backed away, still crouched, prepared to start over.

Before that could happen, however, Komui emerged from the Ops booth. "Stop," he demanded, voice ringing loud and clear. Everyone turned to look at him, though the two in the arena maintained their stances.

"Stop," he repeated furiously. "This is an order. This is enough."

The two glanced at each other warily and then straightened, relaxing their postures. There was a rush of people from the gallery down to the arena.

"Not bad, Yu Kanda," Evans told Kanda, her smile betraying her exhaustion- it had been a good fight that lasted an hour or so, though it seemed much longer than that.

Kanda gave a miniscule nod in acknowledgement, turned his head huffily and stalked away, waving off anxious medics.

Evans promptly slumped onto the ground, breathing hard. "I'm fine," she said irritatedly to her own crowd of medics swarming around her. "Give me some air, I'm fine." They obediently retreated a little. She waited for her breathing to even out, and then pulled herself up again. The medics started converging on her again, and she waved them off, annoyed. "Just need to get my daggers," she muttered, and dragged herself off to pick up her daggers.

Allen, Lavi and Lenalee joined her at the side of the arena, where her last four daggers had fallen.

"That was a great fight," Allen cheered, eyes bright. Lavi and Lenalee beamed down at her, Lenalee albeit with more than a trace of anxiety.

"That was some mad combat skills, woman," Lavi said solemnly, eyes twinkling down at her in admiration. She nodded once, and pushed back her limp, lank curls- her wavy hair had fallen out of her ponytail again.

"Are you alright?" Lenalee asked anxiously. Evans looked down at herself. Cuts, gashes, bruises- still bleeding in some places, even.

"I am fine," she reassured them calmly as the medics claimed her once more, bringing her away. The trio watched as the medics fussed over Kanda and Evans separately. They turned to go, but heard sounds of an argument floating from the gallery above.

"…your worries are unfounded, Komui. She can clearly fight and defend just as well without Innocence," Leverrier said dismissively.

"This is not about whether or not she can fight," Komui insisted. "It's about her safety, and the safety of those around her-"

"That is a non-issue."

A short pause, before Leverrier spoke again, in a softer, more threatening tone. "This is out of your hands, Komui. You _will_ do as I say, because this is the wishes of the Vatican. She_ will_ serve her purpose- that is what she's meant to do. You would be foolish to try to protect her from her fate."

A double set of footsteps sounded- it appeared that Leverrier had walked away, Link following closely behind.

The trio stared at one another once more, eyes wide with unabashed curiosity.

--

**a/n:** I don't really like this chapter [winces]. I can't write fight scenes, really =( But please review, anyway! It would make me really happy =)


	6. And fate will have us all

**a/n:** First and foremost, to MsLightfairyprincess, whose name keeps getting chewed up by the Fanfiction Gods: I have no idea why, but in the previous chapters, your name kept disappearing in the acknowledgements in the A/N section X( I have the sneaking suspicion it has something to do with the fullstop originally in your name, but nevertheless, thank you so much for your past reviews =)

For this unusually swift update, you need to thank Aviantei, whose rapid update had me chugging away like mad to keep up. No offence, but I don't quite think I'll be making another such deal quite so soon [winces] I had to stay up to finish this chapter off, and the lack of sleep is _totally _haunting me now. Of course, thanks also to 22894 iambryce for the awesome review. This chapter is for all of you. Enjoy!

--

**.and fate will have us all.**

He ran his fingers lightly over the piano, sighed, and began to play, the melody familiar, yet haunting. Since the day that he resurrected the Ark, Allen had been thinking- about his past, about the path he thought he had chosen for himself, about his future. _Was anything for real anymore? _He hadn't noticed when his fingers stopped playing of their own accord- the click of the door opening, particularly loud in the silence, alerted him of that fact. He turned around in his seat- Evans stood in the doorway, tall and poised. Her eyes bore into his, and she walked towards him silently.

"Was that the song of the 14th?"

He nodded once, unsure of what to say. She reached the side of the piano and ran her fingers over the smooth, polished wood. Her pale, slender fingers trailed along the side of the piano and up across the opening at the top. He waited in silence, unsure of what to say, until she finally chose to speak again.

"It was beautiful."

He blushed at that, and ruffled the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah, it was nothing."

What she spoke next took him off guard. "Will you play it again?"

He hesitated, then smiled up at her. Turning back to the piano, he began playing once more. Both of them luxuriated in the melody until it ended. Allen placed his hands back onto his lap, and wondered what else to do- the silence felt a little awkward.

She gave a tiny, appreciative smile. "Thank you."

"Uh, you're welcome."

Awkward silence. Allen scratched his head absently and racked his brains for a conversation starter. "So, that was some fight with Kanda today, huh?" She had walked over to the couch and sat down. Her eyes blinked up at him- the piano bench being slightly higher than the couch- but she made no other response.

"Uh, speaking of the fight, shouldn't you be resting in the infirmary?" His eyes ran down her length, taking in her bandages and bruises.

"I rested the whole day." She noted the worry in his eyes. "These are nothing," she gestured to the bandages.

"Er, alright."

Awkward silence.

Allen blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Why don't you want to called by your first name?" Pause. "I mean, Syrona is a nice name, and everything," he added hastily. The stretch of silence that followed was almost painful. Allen backtracked quickly. "Erm, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to, I mean it's alright if you don't want to answer, it's not like you have to answer to me or anything-"

Then, she _laughed_, a tinkle of wind-chimes made from the coldest ice. "It is a _most_ ill-suited name," she murmured, looking straight at Allen in the eye, in a way that was very disconcerting.

"Oh."

_Awkwardsilenceawkwardsilenceawkwardsilence_.

Allen felt a rush of relief when she was the one to break the silence. "Why are you here?"

"Well, I've just been thinking about some stuff." A sideways glance at her. "You know about the Ark incident?"

She nodded once. It was his turn to laugh, softly. "Up till then, I had never touched a piano in my life. Yet, that day, my fingers just…_moved_ themselves." He stared at the afore-mentioned digits, still incredulous even though he knew the truth now. "It had felt so _weird_, you know?" He looked over, at her, and found that she was actually _listening_, her gaze intent on him, almost understanding. He looked away, and berated himself for babbling. He changed the subject. "Do you know how to play the piano?"

To his surprise, she nodded again.

"Will you play?" He gestured at the piano with a shy curiosity. Then he caught sight of her bandaged knuckles and opened his mouth to take the request back. She noticed the glance downwards, and said simply, "It's alright. Really," before rising and walking over to the piano.

He shifted over to make room. She hesitated, then sat down, and placed her fingers on the ivory keys. They automatically aligned themselves properly- a result of years' worth of lessons- and begin to play. She had chosen a complex song of which he did not know the name of- nevertheless, he appreciated the flowing music, the rise and fall of notes like great waves in the ocean, the intricate, interwoven layers of melody. He let out a breath- unknowingly, he had been holding it in admiration, and she looked up from the keys cautiously, her fingers still fluttering over the keys- on auto-pilot, it seemed.

"You're good," he told her, honestly, laughingly. "You're really good."

She gave a careless little shrug, seeming irritated at the compliment, and continued playing. Allen relaxed, let his eyelids fall closed, let the melody lull him back into his thoughts.

"Sometimes, it's not wise to think too much." A dry voice brought him back from his festering thoughts with a start. Once again, apparently, the music had stopped without him realizing it. He blushed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, not bothering to deny the allegation.

"Really," she continued in a softer tone, "it's liable to drive one mad."

He took in what she said and nodded, more to himself than in response to her words. Her gaze roved over his face, lingered on his cursed scar.

"Is that it?" She raised a pale, slender finger to the scar. Allen tried not to think about the slight tingle that he felt when her cool skin came into contact. "Must've been painful," she mused thoughtfully.

Allen smiled. "You would know," he pointed out. "I heard that you have one of your own."

"This?" She retracted her finger; spread her hand palm-side up. Allen looked the scar over. It was black, unlike the red-brown of his. Unconsciously, he grasped her fingers and brought her hand closer to inspect it. The blackened flesh looked blistered and burnt. In the center of the pentacle, he could indistinctly make out an indent in the shape of a heart.

"No offense," he informed her. "But yours looks far more painful than mine."

She smiled in wry amusement.

He looked the hand over once more, and noticed a thin, raised scar running over all four fingers. It was pink and puckered, slightly raw in some places. He suddenly thought of the bow she had been carrying when she first arrived. She noticed his wayward glance, and closed her hand abruptly. "So, your thoughts were what brought you here tonight?"

He gave a one-armed shrug. "What about you?"

"I heard the melody."

He considered this. There was no way the melody brought as far as the sleeping quarters in the HQ. The portal to the Ark was below ground, in the Science Department; the rest of the HQ was above. He shot her a questioning look.

She interpreted it correctly. "I was at Hevlaska's."

He pondered over her explanation. That would explain it- but what was she doing at Hevlaska's, much less in the middle of the night? He thought of the lift that had to be taken down, the access code of which only Komui had. He wondered if it would be appropriate to ask.

"Can I see Crown Clown?" she asked suddenly. It took him off guard, flustered.

"Huh? Uh, okay, sure." He activated his Innocence, and brought out its sword-form, puzzled. Her eyes sparked with obvious interest as they took in the size of his sword. He couldn't help but chuckle. "You really like weaponry, don't you?"

She had the grace to blush faintly. "Can I… can I hold it?" she asked hesitantly.

He blinked. No one had asked him that question before. Innocence was pretty much a personal thing. He scratched his head again, shrugged and handed her the sword. Her arms drooped a little with the weight of the sword, before bringing it right back up again. She looked the sword over intently before bringing her gaze back up to Allen curiously.

"Why aren't you a general?"

Allen faltered and fidgeted. How had she known? Did Komui tell her? "I um… didn't really want to be one. Besides, Komui and the Grand Generals thought I was a little too young; maybe I'll take up the post later when I'm older and more experienced." He gave a small laugh. "The thought that I'll have to train new Exorcists scares me," he admitted, his grey eyes shy.

She gazed into his eyes, nodded understandingly and turned her attention back to the sword in her hand. She gave it a couple of experimental swings, smooth, graceful though cautious in the limited space they had. He couldn't help noticing the sparkle in her eyes as she did so, and was strangely fascinated. Here was a girl who didn't seem to like playing the piano, contrary to what he had learnt over the past few years travelling with his womanizing master. Yet, she seemed _alive_ with a sword in her hand. He couldn't help but chuckle.

"Here." She handed the sword back to him, her eyes bright with satisfaction. He took it back and de-activated his Innocence. She ducked her head shyly. "Thank you very much."

"No problem," he told her. "It was a pleasure." And strangely enough, it really was. He wondered about her ease with his sword, and remembered the time Lavi said that his hammer weighed nothing to him; however, to others, it would probably be too heavy to lift. Was she that strong, or was something else at play? Then, he suddenly thought of something. "I know of a way you can repay me," he informed her mischievously, his eyes glinting eagerly.

A wary look came into her eyes.

"You can teach me how to throw daggers like you can! That was really cool!"

A heartbeat of silence, then her lips curved upwards, tinged with relief. "Sure." He smiled at her and she smiled back tentatively. They stayed like this for a while, looking at each other, until she broke away and rose from the seat. "Just come and find me whenever you want to learn," she told him as she made her way to the door.

"Where are you going?" He was slightly bewildered- some sort of curious emotion in her pale blue eyes had him a little disorientated.

She was already at the door, her hand on the doorframe. She turned her head slightly and smiled. "Training."

***

It was morning. Allen had just finished with his daily push-ups when there was a knock on the door. He threw a shirt on, and went to answer it. "Lenalee," he spoke, smiling at the girl in front of him. Inwardly, he sighed- he had known it was too good to be true. No way there would be another mission-free day.

She smiled back at him ruefully. Turned out that his feelings weren't as inward as he thought. "Komui wants to see you in his office. It's another mission."

He grabbed his Exorcist coat off the hook on the back off his door, shrugged it on and started to walk with Lenalee, shutting the door behind him. "What, no breakfast?" he joked.

Lenalee laughed, a pleasant sound. "Don't worry; I can get Jerry to make something to go for you guys." He was more than appeased at the thought of Jerry's cooking, and his mouth watered with anticipation.

They reached Komui's office, knocked and let themselves in when they heard Komui call out, "Come in." Lavi, Bookman and Miranda were already waiting. Allen blinked with surprise- usually, missions were undertaken either solo, or in pairs. This must be a tricky mission. They waited on the couches, Lenalee standing beside Komui as usual in her role of Assistant, expecting Komui to start. Komui handed around the mission files. "Read over these first," he explained. "We're still waiting for one more."

They glanced at one another in curiosity. Five-man cells were rare.

There was a click as the door opened and then Leverrier strode in loudly, obnoxiously egoistic in his stride. Evans followed after, still dressed in normal attire. "Alright, we can start," Komui said, ignoring the disbelieving looks the others were giving him- Leverrier had never sat in on one of their mission briefings before, and neither had Evans. "This will be a relatively simple mission- to retrieve what we suspect to be Innocence from Halle, Belgium. As far as the Finders know, the Akuma don't seem to have noticed anything yet, so this mission should be relatively hassle-free. Just in case, though, keep on your guard."

He paused, and glanced sharply at Leverrier. The latter smirked and waved his hand dismissively. "She knows what she needs to know, Komui."

Komui visibly relaxed, and turned back to everyone else. "That will be all. Everything else is in the files, as usual. Read them over." He addressed Lenalee. "Lenalee, will you bring Evans to get outfitted in her new uniform?"

Lenalee nodded and turned to Evans with a smile, gesturing for her to follow. Both of them exited, closely followed by Leverrier. As the remaining four got up to go, Komui motioned for them to sit back down, casting a cautious look towards the door. "There is more." Everyone glanced at one another again, more curious than ever, except for Bookman who sat calmly, inspecting his long nails.

"This is a relatively simple mission- it's meant to be exposure, for Evans. So as far as possible, I want all of you to keep her out of any possible conflict. Let her observe everything, but try your best to keep her from fighting. Understood?"

There was a thick air of puzzlement and bewilderment, but everyone looked at the serious and worried expression on Komui's face and decided to let it pass for now. Maybe he was just worried that Evans was inexperienced. However, Lavi opened his mouth- to protest or to question, no one knew, because Bookman slapped his hand onto Lavi's mouth almost immediately, and glared at him. Komui shot Bookman a look that simultaneously conveyed gratefulness and warning. Bookman nodded back, and a look of mutual understanding passed between them. "All right, that's really all. Have a good mission," Komui dismissed them, almost wearily.

They walked out of Komui's office, still shrouded in a thick fog of confusion.

"You're irritating, old panda! Why did you stop me- I wanted to ask what was going on!"

"The young shouldn't ask too much," Bookman answered dourly, and smacked Lavi on the head as they made their way to their quarters to pack swiftly.

Evans and Miranda were already waiting by the exit by the time Lavi, Bookman and Allen made their way down the central staircase, Allen carrying a large sack of food in addition to his luggage. Lavi gave a low whistle and nudged Allen with an elbow when he spotted Evans' Exorcist uniform- similar to Miranda's, only sleeveless and _backless_. He wondered briefly about how Komui could design such a revealing outfit before other sections of his brain took over.

"Those pervy Science Department people," he muttered cheekily into Allen's ear. "First they put Lenalee in short shorts, and now this." He rubbed his hands together gleefully, his orange scarf fluttering with the motion.

Allen rolled his eyes and smacked Lavi's head with his elbow- both his hands were occupied. "You're the pervy one!"

"Hey, why do all of you keep doing that," Lavi complained as he rubbed the back of his sore head. They walked forward to meet Miranda and Evans. "You suit the Exorcist uniform," Lavi told Evans unabashedly. Allen bonked Lavi on the head again for good measure. Lavi winced and sulked unhappily. Evans blinked at this little exchange, and looked down at her feet. Allen noticed that her hands, gloved with black, fingerless gloves, were trembling as they gripped the handles of her luggage- even the wrist guard on her right hand and the curious metal-like cuff on her left hand were shuddering slightly.

"It's all right. Don't be nervous! We're all in this together," he reassured her. She looked up, and managed a faint smile.

"All right, then. Let's go!" Lavi cheered, and they all made their way through the exit.

--

**a/n:** Hope you enjoyed that brief transitory chapter. Please review, and do look forward to the next chapter. I know I am =)


	7. Darwin says flight

**A/N: **Kudos to Aviantei and Mslightfairyprincess for being awesomeness personified =) Oh, and I took a peek at the story traffic page and saw visitors from Israel and Venezuela, two countries I've always wanted to visit! I think that's really cool, having visitors from exotic (to me, anyway) places.

And I heard news that Hoshino-sensei should be back sometime in April, hence I'll try to finish this up by then. I just got a PT job so I'm going to have to chug like hell to get this done. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

-

**.darwin says flight.**

They arrived at an inn in Halle the next afternoon, somewhat tired after an entire day of travelling. Lavi stretched his arms out above him, and yawned widely. "I say, this is one convenient mission, eh? Never had one so close by before." And indeed, it was. Halle, Belgium was merely a half-day ferry, half-day train ride and a few hours of carriage ride away from HQ in London.

Allen clapped his hands together gleefully. "Who's up for breakfast?" Without waiting for an answer, he ran straight into the inn's dining room. Lavi made an attempt to call him back, but gave up.

"Alright," he said, turning to the others. "Let's go up to our rooms, get refreshed and we meet down here half an hour later, alright?"

The others nodded in agreement. Miranda and Evans headed upstairs to their shared room. Once they were there, they set down their luggage. After a beat or three of awkward silence, Miranda spoke up. "So… this is your first mission?" Evans nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak.

"It's alright to be nervous," Miranda smiled shyly at her. "I was really frightened during my first mission too, and it was a big mission at that. I'm sure you'll do fine." Evans nodded again and smiled in thanks, sat down on the bed and stared down at her boots, slightly scuffed at the toes. Miranda set about putting away her things, humming softly under her breath.

"Miranda?"

Miranda turned around from the shared closet. "Yes?"

"Will you tell me what Time Record does?" Evans averted her eyes. "Just… you know, distract me from the mission a little?"

Miranda smiled, and sat down on the other bed across from her. "Sure," she replied and spent the next few minutes explaining about her Innocence. Evans remained silent for a bit after Miranda ended, absorbing it all in.

"So… yours is the only defensive Innocence in the Order?"

Miranda smiled ruefully. "I guess you could put it that way." She sighed. "Sometimes, though, I wish I could do more to help the others…" She glanced curiously at Evans. "If you don't mind me asking… what is your Innocence like?"

Evans reached over to retrieve a large case which she had been carrying. She unclasped the case deftly, and lifted the lid to reveal a large bow, sleek and slender. It was only slightly shorter than her height; maybe coming up to her shoulders.

"An archer-type Innocence?" Miranda guessed.

Evans shrugged uncomfortably.

"It seems different from before," Miranda commented. "When you first arrived," she added in answer to Evans' questioning look.

"The Science Department remodeled it a little; apparently, they didn't quite like what the North American Branch's Science Department did."

Miranda smiled at her again, and rose from the bed, walking towards to the door. "Well, our half-hour's almost up. Ready to go?" Evans gave a small smile, closed the case, slung it over her back and followed after Miranda.

They met at the entrance of the inn. "Where's Bookman?" Allen asked.

Lavi rolled his eyes. "Says he's staying here to maintain contact with the Order. He's not exactly into baby-sitting."

"Where are the Finders?" Allen asked. "Weren't they supposed to meet us here?"

"I don't know," Lavi frowned uncharacteristically. "But we can't wait. We should retrieve the Innocence and get back as soon as possible.

"Okay, how should we go about finding the Innocence?" Allen asked. "Maybe we should split up and search the town for anything out of the ordinary. If we see any Finders on the way, even better."

Lavi opened his mouth to agree, but was interrupted by Bookman, coming down the staircase. "No. You should stay together."

Lavi protested. "But it's more efficient-"

Bookman reached the bottom of the stairs then, and reached out to smack Lavi on the head. "Just listen to me, you fool."

Evans stifled a giggle, but Allen heard anyway, and turned to smile at her, eyes twinkling. Lavi sulked while Miranda tried to hide a smile. "Alright," Allen said to Bookman placatingly (he didn't want one of those smacks; they sure sounded painful). "We'll stay together. Communicate by golem if we meet with anything, right?"

Bookman nodded boredly and turned back to go up the stairs. Lavi stared after him, sulking while rubbing the back of his head, and then turned to the others with a bright smile. "Okay, let's go then!"

***

A couple of hours later, they got to the Innocence. The Finder had found them a little while after due to a miscommunication about the meeting place. No matter, because they had managed to find the Innocence without his help; Evans had unknowingly led them to it by randomly choosing the direction in which to walk. That was a stroke of luck right there.

On the flip-side, however, they couldn't retrieve it yet- the Innocence was in a fountain that was smack in the middle of a bustling town square. What's more, occasional groups of locals/tourists would walk up to the "mystical" fountain to marvel at the constantly-changing colors of the water, a special feature of the fountain that had appeared only days before.

"No chance for it," Lavi had sighed. "We're going to have to wait for nightfall before we do anything funny with the fountain."

And so, wait they did.

***

Night had finally fallen, and the town square was as quiet as it would ever be. They had taken turns earlier to walk casually around the fountain, safeguarding it but now they gathered around it, inspecting it closer.

"Where's the Innocence?" Allen muttered. "Do we just haul off the whole fountain?"

It was Lavi's turn to smack Allen on the head. "Don't be ridiculous," he told him. "The Innocence is probably located only in a small part of the fountain."

Miranda and Ezra, the Finder, smiled at their little exchange; Evans leaned over the fountain, gazing intently into the water. She slipped her hand into the cool water, and inspected the bottom.

"Boy, this is one calm Innocence, huh?" Lavi remarked. "Not like that violent tree with the Leaf of Revival, eh, Allen?"

Allen shuddered in response.

A sharp _crack!_ was heard, and they swiveled around to see Evans fishing something out of the water, and straightening up. "Got it," she said, waving around a small white stone globe- one of many that adorned the submerged base of the statue in the middle of the fountain. She closed her hand over the globe, contracted her fingers slightly and opened them once more- the familiar green form of an Innocence fragment appeared on her palm. They gaped at her while she smirked knowingly at them. "Let's go," she told them, blatantly ignoring their expressions. "We've got to get this back to the Headquarters immediately, right?"

Allen suddenly felt his left eye activate, and instinctively invoked his Innocence. "That's right, but I don't think we'll be doing that anytime soon," he told the others. "Akuma incoming."

"What?! Where?"

Evans pointed wordlessly up at the night sky, where a dark cloud was swiftly obscuring the moon. Her face was paler than usual.

"How many, Allen?" Lavi asked briskly, invoking his own Innocence as well.

Allen squinted up at the sky. "Looks like a few dozen to me- maybe more than a hundred, even. What on earth brought on this?"

"No time to think about that. Miranda, Evans, Ezra, you protect the Innocence and get it back to HQ as soon as possible. Me and Allen will just finish this up." Lavi turned to the golem beside him and started yelling. "Old panda, trouble! There's Akuma here!"

Bookman's voice crackled back though the golem. "Got it. Send Miranda, Evans and the Finder away with the Innocence. I'm on my way."

Miranda turned to Evans and grabbed her hand. They ran down the length of the street, Ezra following closely. Behind them, sounds of a commotion broke out- the fight had started. Miranda tugged Evans round a corner and continued running, frantically trying to recall the road back to Brussels where they could jump onto a train back to Port Oostende. They could wait for Allen, Lavi and Bookman to join them there- after all, they should be able to manage those Akuma…right?

Evans threw a side-glance at Miranda- she was practically chewing off her lips in nervousness and guilt. Guilt… for leaving their comrades behind? Evans wasn't sure.

Suddenly, she heard a gasp behind her and turned her head sharply- Ezra had been struck by a strange black pointed spear. She watched, horrified, as Ezra turned pale, then grey. Black pentacles like the one in her palm sprouted up _everywhere_, and then he crumpled into a pile of dust. A scream strangled in her throat- but it was no time for screaming, because a Level Three was already walking out of the shadows towards them. "So, you thought you could run away from us, couldn't you?" it purred menacingly, and opened its hand- the spear jumped back into its palm all too readily. "Hand over the Innocence, and this will be less painful than it ought to be."

Evans backed away rapidly. Miranda was about to invoke her Innocence when the Level Three paused its advance towards them and promptly exploded. Bookman stepped out neatly behind where the Level Three had been standing. "Quick, Miranda. We'll handle this- don't worry."

Miranda nodded, grabbed Evans' hand once more, and turned to run through the streets. "Level Three…" she whispered under her breath. The others were fighting Level Threes. Her throat tightened in panic. What happened to them- were they still alright? What if they weren't? She hadn't been, wouldn't be able to protect them. She fought back a wave of fear- she had a job to do, orders from Komui to follow. She glanced at the girl beside her, only to realize that Evans had been looking at her all along.

Evans watched the play of emotions across Miranda's face- fear, nervousness, worry. But the underlying emotion, the most dominant of all, was guilt. Miranda wanted to be back there, with the others, fighting with them, protecting them, doing whatever she could to keep them from coming into harm's way. Instead, she was stuck running with little old Evans. She sighed mentally, and recalled Leverrier's words to her-

-

_Leverrier leaned over her as she sat patiently in a chair._

_"Now, Komui wants me to tell you that you're not supposed to invoke your Innocence at all- he doesn't want to risk it."_

_He grinned sardonically. "Personally, I wouldn't mind- after all, it's your God-given duty, but Komui insists on his way, at least for the first mission."_

_He continued, with a tone brimming with disapproval. "Komui also wants you to get away from any possibility of conflict- he doesn't want you anywhere near dark matter, and that includes Akuma and the Noah, you hear?"_

_He leaned closer to her, staring menacing into her eyes. "But let me warn you- just because Komui got his way on this mission doesn't mean it will always be this way. You __**will**__ fulfill your responsibility of being an Accommodator, and I will personally see to that." He bared his teeth in a gruesome imitation of a smile._

_"Of course, Inspector," she said obediently. She looked up at him and returned the smile, albeit a blank one. "I will fulfill my duty."_

_His smile widened. He straightened up, and turned to walk out. "Now, let's go. Wouldn't want you to miss your first mission briefing, would we?"_

_-_

Miranda frowned, puzzled, when Evans abruptly came to a stop and let go of her hand. "Go back," she told her.

"But we can't- you heard Lavi and Bookman, we're supposed to send the Innocence back and besides, Ko-"

"Go back," Evans repeated insistently. "They need you. And you want to protect them, I can tell."

"But what about you? If you-"

"I'm going back too. We can send the Innocence back together, after all this."

"Are… are you sure?"

Evans almost smiled- she could hear the hesitance in Miranda's voice. Undoubtedly, Komui had got to them already. "I'll be fine, Miranda. I'm an Exorcist too, remember?"

Miranda hesitated and then nodded at her, and they both spun around and sprinted back in the direction from which they had come from.

***

She stood on the rooftop of the highest building she could find that was near the fight and prayed that the meager height would be enough. This was no time to be obedient- by the time they ran back, the situation was dire enough to warrant some serious help. Bookman had already been down for the count; he was safe in Miranda's Time Out for now, still unconscious. She pulled her bow out of the case, momentarily relieved that she had stuffed the retrieved Innocence into Miranda's hand just before she left her Time Out- she would need both hands for this.

She took a deep breath, calming her emotions, focusing her thoughts. _No room for failure_, she thought sternly to herself, and invoked the Innocence in her bow. It started to emanate a faint white glow. She gripped the riser firmly and drew the bowstring back. A gleaming arrow of white light appeared between her hands. She narrowed her eyes, focused on the target and let go.

The Level Three Akuma that had been sneaking up on Allen promptly exploded.

He looked surprised and turned in the direction from which the arrow had come from. Sighting Evans on the rooftops, he looked even more surprised, before forming his mouth into a grin, and his fingers in a thumbs-up position. She smiled and nodded, acknowledging his thanks, and watched as he proceeded to pulverize more Akuma with his Crown Clown.

Alright- time to get cracking as well. She drew her bowstring back, this time summoning five arrows, and watched with immense satisfaction as they all hit their targets.

***

He stared at the chaos around him. Not bad, if he might say so himself- things were relatively under control, all the other Exorcists were handling themselves well enough, and a good number of Akuma had already been destroyed. He smirked as the next swarm of Akuma approached him and swung his hammer back, summoning the fiery dragon once more. Bye-bye, ugly little buggers. He almost let out a gleeful laugh, and had to check himself- it wouldn't do to get too confident in the midst of battle. No telling what the old man would do to him once he found out Lavi had gotten cocky.

He winced mentally as he thought of all the past abuse that the old panda had conferred on him, and sighed. What he wouldn't do right now for a nice, peaceful cuppa tea with a pretty girl. Come to think of it, the lass tending the grocery shop next to the inn wasn't half-bad looking. Of course, there was always that pretty new Exorcist, Evans…

That was the exact moment when he felt his hammer sliding out of his slightly slackened grip. He whipped his head around in horror- a sneaky Level Three had fished his hammer out of his hand and chucked it aside.

The Level Three sneered down at him. "Helpless without your widdle weapon, huh, baby Exorcist?"

Lavi gulped, and took a step backwards. He took a cautious look around him, and almost wished he hadn't- he was surrounded by wall after wall of Akuma of all shapes and sizes, all leering menacingly at him. His eyes darted from spot to spot, trying to find his hammer, but to no avail. He raised his eyes up to meet the Level Three in front of him, and gulped once more, mentally preparing himself for the worst.

Oh _shit_.

***

The height thing wasn't even close to working after all. Evans sighed as another tremor ran through her bow-arm, causing an arrow to miss its target. She took a step backwards from the edge of the roof and closed her eyes, trying to focus on something, anything, other than the throb after throb of pain.

A flutter to her distant right- she snapped her eyes open and instinctively fired a shot in the direction of the sound. An Akuma started to fall through the air, exploding on the way down. Evans gritted her teeth- there was no time for anything other than fighting. She had been able to fend off the Akuma that had been coming in her direction long before they got anywhere close, by virtue of her long-ranged weapon, but with eyes closed, that was going to be an entirely different matter. If anything, closing her eyes would probably produce the opposite result- the Akuma would be able to gain ground on her, along with the dark matter they carried.

It had started with a mere flicker, just behind her belly, in the depths of her core. She had ignored it and carried on shooting, aiming to get as many Akuma as she could before it got any worse. Before it got beyond control.

Of course, it soon grew to be more than just a flicker- she began to feel the tendrils weaving from it, reaching outwards, making their way to every part of her body. She shot her last batch of arrows, risking a last glimpse downwards before allowing herself to collapse on the edge of the roof. The situation looked to be under control; undoubtedly, the other Exorcists could handle themselves without her, at least for now. She gathered herself and forced herself to calm down, clearing all emotion, all thought from her mind, focused on chasing those pesky tendrils back to oblivion.

They resisted her- of course they did. The lure of dark matter was irresistible; inexorable, but she continued to wrest control anyway.

-

_Komui adjusted his glasses and looked down at her seriously._

_"No matter what, if it does happen again, you have to regain control," he told her in a gentle, yet grave tone. "You have to keep your mind clear of any thought, any feelings because it appears that strong emotion is a secondary trigger as well as a catalyst."_

_He paused and smiled down at her, eyes twinkling. "Of course, there is little likelihood that that will happen, as long as you do only what is necessary, nothing more."_

_He patted the top of her head fondly, almost like an elder brother would. "I'll do my best to make sure nothing happens," he promised. "So don't worry too much about it."_

_-_

She was almost settled- she could feel it. The tendrils were on their way to retreat- the feeling was coming back into her arms once more. She opened an eye, risking a peek downwards- and instantly regretted it. Almost. She saw the entire fiasco, of course- the distraction, the disarming, and the resulting panic. That idiot of a Lavi. She cursed once and got to her feet, albeit unsteadily.

_Is this the right thing to do?_ A voice sounded at the back of her mind reprovingly, sensibly. She pushed it away- this was no time for reason, for logic. She crouched downwards, bending her knees slightly, gathering the momentum she would need, and- going on pure instinct- jumped.

-

**a/n:** [evil laugh] I'm not one for cliffhangers, mostly, but I couldn't resist this teensy tiny one. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!


	8. There will be blood

**a/n:** For the ever-supportive 22894 iambryce and Aviantei- this is for you. Enjoy, all, and do remember to review, especially since this was a particularly tricky chapter to write- I need the feedback =)

-

**.there will be blood.**

He winced as they started to close in on him. _Uh-oh_. This didn't look good. This didn't look good at _all. _He risked another glance around himself, hoping to catch sight of another Exorcist, his hammer, _anything_ that would get him out of this mess unscathed. Nothing.

He almost regretted the fact that Krory wasn't around- at least those teeth could suck the Akuma blood out of him before he crumpled into a pile of dust, although memory of that bite that Krory gave him before caused him to wince again.

That was when something wrapped itself around him, gripping him under his arms tightly. What was this, a pre-emptive strike? He was about to start struggling when his feet suddenly left the ground, and he was… flying.

Abruptly, he was dumped onto the ground, dazed. _What just happened?_ He took a quick look around him- he was on a low rooftop somewhere- and risked a quick glance upwards at the figure standing before him.

His mouth promptly fell open. He was dimly aware that in another part of his mind- the logical, Bookman part- he finally realized the reason for Evans' backless uniform; but the general portion of his mind was still in shock trying to register the image before him. Evans loomed over him, looking taller than ever due to his vantage point. She was holding her bow in one hand, the other hand fisted by her side. Her eyes were stormy with anger, her hair flying wildly about her face in the wind… and she had wings. Humongous white wings, half-folded behind her. She looked, for all in the world, like an archangel of death, her face pale, drawn, cold.

Then, he was startled out of his reverie. "Didn't Bookman teach you _anything_?" she snapped at him furiously. He stared up at her blankly. She ran a hand through her hair and growled in frustration, "Never mind," before stomping off to the edge and launching herself into the air once more.

He watched after her wonderingly, recovering from his previous shock. Wings? Was she part-bird, or were the wings the result of Innocence? Both didn't seem likely, seeing that she certainly looked fully human, and she already had that bow. And yet… what were other options? He came up with nothing else. But if those wings were Innocence, that meant that she was in control of _two_ Innocence fragments…

Like General Cross, before he was no longer the Accommodator for Judgment.

Just then, his hammer fell right into his hands. He looked up in time to see her wings fold, and she dropped deftly onto the ground. Between the wings, on her back, he glimpsed the same symbol on Allen's left hand, glowing green. Well, that confirmed it. She had two Innocence fragments, alright. She turned her head to look at him, and he was surprised to see a grimace twisting her mouth and beads of sweat on her forehead. She was even paler than before, and Lavi found himself worrying.

"Are you alright? You don't look so good-"

"Get back down there," she all but snarled at him. "Finish them off _fast_."

He took one look at her expression and decided it was best not to aggravate her further- apparently, she had seen the full extent of his foolishness. He backed away from her, hands up in surrender, before leaping down to join the action.

It wasn't until a full five minutes later, in the midst of fighting three Akuma simultaneously, that he suddenly wondered about her seeming effortlessness in carrying his hammer.

***

She couldn't even muster enough energy to cast a baleful glare after Lavi before she dropped to her knees and remained slumped there. That _idiot_… that ridiculous stunt he pulled had completely, utterly undid _everything_ she had done earlier.

She clutched her chest, willing her erratic, speeding heartbeat to slow, willing herself to calm down- but it was no use. She recalled the way her body had reacted when she dove into the Akuma- once, to save that _idiot_ and once, to retrieve his Anti-Akuma weapon. The tendrils had positively exploded out of her core, eagerly reaching out in all directions, wanting to take over, wanting to…

She shut her eyes, but it was no use- what she wanted to block out wasn't out of her head; it was inside. Memories, thoughts, feelings assaulted her; the tendrils sped up their invasion, gaining purchase every minute.

_Calm down! _

But how? Her mind was a mess- it was too packed, teeming with _things_, swarming with them. She wound an arm around her torso, trying to hold her mind, her body, her _self_ together. Another tremor raced throughout her body violently, causing her to drop her bow. Her heart pounded, fast, erratic, the beat sounding with a sinister undertone. Her hands fumbled, searching, reaching, when her hands met with a cool surface. One of her daggers, poking out from her boots. Without thinking, she pulled out the dagger and plunged it into her thigh.

The wave of pain that hit her was almost a relief.

She gasped, and wondrously, miraculously, her mind cleared, leaving nothing but the pain. She focused now on the pain; concentrated on it, only it, nothing else, keeping her mind free of anything other than the pain. Her temples began to throb- the pain seemed to pulse throughout her body, but she persisted, wrenching the blade in deeper, twisting it. Her breathing began to even- however, the tendrils within her found no peace, and pushed against her walls insistently. In the stillness of her mind, now her only sanctuary, she had a brief flash of illumination- yes, yes, why hadn't she thought of it earlier?

She released her hold of the dagger's handle, let her hand slip downwards, close around the length of blade that remained exposed and gripped the blade hard. As she had expected, blood began to flow, slowly, viscously- between her fingers, downwards, merging with the blood from her thigh; but most importantly, over her hand, over her wrist and began to drip from it slowly, agonizingly.

_One. _

_Two._

She counted the drops of blood slowly, steadily, focusing on her count, on the pain; nothing else.

_Six._

_Seven._

***

He straightened, sighing gustily with part-relief, part-curiosity. To his left, Lavi shot him a questioning look. He shrugged in return. Much as he wanted to know why the Akuma had beaten a sudden retreat, he couldn't be too fussed about it right now. Picking his way across the debris, he made his way to Miranda's Time Out and crouched beside Bookman. Lavi hunkered down beside him.

"Is he alright?" asked Allen.

"He should be- I think he's just unconscious." Lavi replied. "Miranda… you can stop the Time Out now."

Miranda was trembling under the strain that the Time Out placed on her. Nevertheless, she was hesitant to heed Lavi. Her eyes looked Lavi over, and then met Allen's warily.

"It's alright," Allen reassured her. "No one got seriously injured this time round."

Miranda searched Allen's eyes, and found it to be the truth. Nodding wearily, she released her hold on the Time Out and inactivated her Innocence. As if by magic, cuts, bruises appeared on the two boys.

"That was a close one, eh, Allen?" Lavi ruffled his hair and looked down at Bookman. The latter seemed to be stirring.

"Where's Evans?" Allen asked as Bookman opened his eyes.

"Are you feeling alright?" Miranda asked Bookman anxiously.

"Fine, fine," Bookman grumbled. He raised his head to look at Lavi. "What happened here?"

Lavi's eyes had widened to the size of saucers, his face pale. Abruptly, he turned and ran, shouting over his shoulder, "She's up on one of the rooftops. I think she might have been hurt."

Behind him, he could hear Allen join in the search. Bookman bellowed in shock and disbelief. "What?! Evans is here? I thought I told her to escape with the Innocence?"

Miranda waved the retrieved Innocence sheepishly. Bookman shook his head in frustration and leapt off after Lavi. Meanwhile, Lavi made straight for the rooftop he had jumped down from. That was the last place he'd seen her. And true enough, he found her there. He froze in abject horror. Behind him, Allen and Bookman stopped as well.

She was slumped into a sitting position on the floor, her legs folded beneath her. There was a dagger half-embedded in her thigh; the silver blade reflected the pale crescent moon above. Blood was still flowing out steadily, hypnotizingly. His green eye traced the path the blood had made and his horror grew. Her hand still gripped the blade with inhuman strength- Lavi could see the tendons standing out in her hand, as well as the rivulets of blood that made their way down her hand, down the blade, staining the legs of her uniform as well as the dark grey concrete of the floor.

He raised his head slowly to meet her eyes. They were blank, emotionless, staring absently at him like they could register nothing there. They were lifeless; dead. Beside him, Allen galvanized into action. He leapt to her side, tried to remove the blade, but her tight grip refused to relinquish the dagger. He waved his hand before her eyes- no response whatsoever. Aside from the blood flowing, she was like the living dead.

Lavi heard Bookman give a huff of immense disapproval behind him. "That silly girl…" Bookman muttered as he made his way to her side.

"Bookman, what's the matter with her?" Allen's eyes were frantic.

Bookman checked her eyes, her pulse, several other parts of her body. "She hypnotized herself with the dripping of blood."

"But why?"

Bookman ignored him, and straightened. "Someone carry her. We need to get her somewhere safe first so I can tend to her injuries."

Allen made to lift her, but Lavi automatically came forward. He took her from Allen robotically, and picked her up. Miranda appeared just then, and gasped in horror at Evans' state.

Wordlessly, silently, they made their way back to the inn.

***

Lavi stood at the side of the bed, staring down at Evans. It had been a day already. The old panda had managed to lift her out of her hypnosis and cleaned her wounds. After that, her wounds had healed themselves remarkably. He could almost see the skin and muscle fiber knit together before his very eyes.

She had immediately fallen unconscious after Bookman brought her back from whatever hypnosis she had induced herself to face. Just because her surface wounds had healed didn't mean she was better, the old man had warned. Injuries like that brought with them irreparable damage on the inside. One less fatal consequence was the massive loss of blood- apparently, her body couldn't sort that one out as soon as it had with the wounds. Another was, of course, physical and cellular exhaustion, though the old man hadn't deigned to explain any further.

A lock of her hair had fallen into her still-closed eyes. Lavi reached over to sweep the lock aside from her face, which was as pale and drawn as ever. Guilt nagged at his insides, had been since the moment they had found her. He couldn't help but think that he had caused this, had brought this onto her. He remembered the way she had looked on the rooftop- fierce, furious, _livid_, even. Was his foolishness, his idiocy what led her to this?

A knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts. It was Komui. As soon as they got back to the inn, Bookman had called the HQ- Komui had made his way down immediately as soon as he had heard what happened. Komui poked his head into the room. "We're moving her back to HQ."

"Is she… is she stable enough to be moved?"

Komui smiled reassuringly at Lavi. "Yes. The medical team at HQ can do more for her there."

Lavi sighed and buried his head onto his hands. "I'm so sorry, Komui. We should have listened to you- I should have never let her anywhere near the fight."

Komui walked up to Lavi quietly and placed a hand comfortingly on Lavi's shoulders. "It's alright," he said calmly. "Don't worry about it- she'll be fine."

Lavi raised his head and looked at Komui. "Really?"

"Really," Komui replied, and Lavi couldn't help but notice the strain around Komui's eyes.

***

She was having that dream again, of course- the same church, the same aisle, the same muffled conversation, the same grainy feel of the wood of the door, the same cry, the same peculiar scene, the same brilliant white light…. Of course, it was only natural that the same screaming transpired. She awoke with a start, her sheets severely rumpled, screaming as if her life depended on it. She blinked blearily, confusedly- it was so dim, so dark. A figure loomed over her, arms holding her shoulders down firmly, yet gently.

"Lex?" she mumbled into the dark, still half-asleep. "Oh, Lex, I had such a horrible dream..."

"Shh," the figure whispered to her, brought its hand up to her face, sweeping the sweat-soaked tendrils of hair aside. "It's alright, everything's alright now, go back to sleep…"

She sank back into the pillows, smiling drowsily. Everything was alright- how nice. The rhythmic breathing of the room's other occupant lulled her back into sleep gradually, more peacefully than she had been brought out of it.

***

She opened her eyes again, this time to blinding, familiar white. She instinctively threw up her arm before her eyes, squinting groggily. In the peaceful darkness behind her eyelids, she contemplated the dream she had, and sighed.

So it was no dream after all- merely a ghastly, torturous repeat of reality.

Still, she mulled over the dream. She had the dream several times; several times too many. In fact, if she recalled correctly, she had just had the dream twice running. Only, the last dream seemed a bit… off. She frowned. Instead of the usual black that claimed her towards the end, she had had brief snatches of images- a tall, slender woman, buildings in ruin, Lex smiling up at her, eyes empty… red hair? She said the last part aloud. Red hair? Where had that come from?

"You mean Lavi? He's stepped out for a while."

She opened her eyes, lifted her arm, startled. Lenalee smiled at her from beside her bed, visibly relieved.

"You're finally awake! Are you feeling alright?"

Evans struggled to sit up, cautiously taking mental inventory on every part of her body. Her hand flew to her neck. "Yes… yes, I feel fine."

What had happened this time to land her in the infirmary yet again? She racked her brains. It didn't take long for her to recall the mission. "Oh," she gasped. Had it worked? Or was everyone… She grasped Lenalee's arms desperately. "The mission! The other Exorcists… are they alright?"

Lenalee patted her shoulder reassuringly in an effort to calm her, and said soothingly, "They're alright. Everyone's fine, don't worry!"

Evans stared at her doubtfully, searching her face intently for any sign of falsehood, any indication of grief. Finally, she nodded, satisfied that she had the truth, and relaxed her grip on Lenalee's shoulders. She ran a hand through her hair wearily. "How long was I out?"

"About four days, going onto the fifth." Lenalee replied. "Everyone was really worried about you."

She blinked up at Lenalee in surprise, at a loss for words. After some consideration, Lenalee added softly, "Lavi's been at your bedside for most of the time. For some reason, he feels responsible for your… injuries."

With a start, Evans remembered Lavi's idiocy. That thought fueled her mind; her anger bubbled inside her once more. "The hell he should," she snarled.

There was a slight commotion by the door. Both of their heads swiveled around in time to see Lavi recover from his near-trip. He looked up sheepishly, and that was when his eyes met hers; when green met blue.

-

**a/n:** [winces] I couldn't resist that corny last line. Anyway, work is totally getting me down. You luckies out there who're still studying had better appreciate it! I wish I was back in school =( So review and make me happy! =D


	9. And satisfaction brought it back

**a/n: **Very many thanks to 22894 iambryce. I'm so sorry for the late update, but enjoy this chapter anyways!

-

**.and satisfaction brought it back.**

He smiled ruefully to himself as he walked down the hallway. Evans sure had a temper alright- she had ranted for a good fifteen minutes about his stupidity right to his face, and with Lenalee around too. In fact, she probably wouldn't have stopped either. A chuckle escaped his mouth when he remembered the way she paused abruptly in mid-rant, turned to Lenalee and said, "I'm hungry. Is it mealtime yet?"

He had had the strongest impulse to burst out laughing despite the good telling-off he had just received. It was probably for his own good that he had checked himself- the poisonous glare that Evans had sent his way didn't exactly seem non-threatening. So, the three of them had made their way down to lunch. Jerry very happily obliged all of their meal requests, and they settled down at a table to eat.

"Hey, glad to know you're awake! You feeling alright now?" Allen greeted them cheerfully, plunking himself down beside them, along with his usual numerous trays.

Evans made a noise of assent in her throat and carried on eating.

"So, why did you do that? You know, on the mission?" Allen wanted to know.

"Yeah, that hypnosis thing that Bookman said you were doing," Lavi chimed.

Evans looked up. "Bookman said that?" She sounded surprised.

"Uh… yeah?"

She frowned and turned back to her food, seemingly absorbed in thought. Lavi and Allen looked at each other, heaved resigned sighs and started up a new conversation. Midway, they were interrupted.

"Evans, I need to speak to you." Komui stopped by their table. Trailing behind him was Bookman. Evans nodded, unsurprised, and got up to clear her trays and follow after Komui and Bookman.

Lavi sulked. "I hate it how Bookman's keeping me out of things."

Allen threw up his hands in frustration. "I hate it how _everyone_ is keeping us out of things."

***

She settled onto the couch, back straight, legs crossed at the ankle, exuding an air of professionalism. "I had no choice, Head Officer. A life was in danger. I had to-"

"It's alright, Evans," Komui smiled at her. "Lavi and the others have already told me their version of events."

His tone turned grave. "Now I want you to tell me about your version. Where on earth did you learn that hypnosis technique?"

She cast a sideways glance at Bookman, then back at Komui. "Bookman told you," she said evenly. It wasn't a question- it was a statement.

"Yes. Would you like to know what else he told me? He told me that if no one brought you out of your hypnotism within an hour, then no one would be able to. You'd be stuck in your trance forever. Is that what you want?"

She bowed her head. "I saw no other choice."

"Didn't I tell you that you had to calm down completely?"

"Calming down required time. I had none then."

"What of the barrier generator that the Science Department equipped you with?"

"That would have been of no use at all!" she snapped, her temper suddenly flaring. "I know, alright? I may not be able to control it, but I know its power. At that time, it would have been enough to blow the barrier apart. There was no other way out. I know it. You have to trust me on that."

The room remained quiet for a while, while Evans struggled to regain her composure.

"Head Officer, about the sedatives I mentioned to you before-"

"Out of the question. There is no way I would subject one of my Exorcists to prolonged exposure of such a strong drug."

"It would not have to be prolonged. Just a back-up measure," she said reasonably, persuasively.

Komui hesitated.

"Unless you want me to try that hypnosis trick again…"

"Fine," Komui replied hurriedly. "I will consider it. But you are no longer to use that hypnosis technique."

"Very well. Will that be all?" Evans stood up to go.

Komui sighed and removed his glasses. He placed them on the table and massaged his temples. "Evans… You need to take care of yourself."

"Like you aren't taking care of me enough? You have me wrapped in cotton wool, Head Officer. I know that you gave orders to the other Exorcists to remove me from any possible conflict. You especially sent Miranda and Allen with me too, didn't you? The only defensive Innocence in the Order, and the only boy who can see Akuma. It was so obvious. In fact, if it weren't for the pressure from Leverrier and the Vatican, you probably wouldn't have sent me at all. Am I right?"

Komui remained silent throughout the tirade, staring down at his desk. Finally, he sighed and looked up pleadingly. "You know we can't afford for anything to happen to you."

Evans looked down at Komui, lips curving up in a humorless smile. "I know," she said coldly, callously. "I know."

***

There were already people in the lounge when she stepped in. She saw that, and half-turned to go; she wanted some peace and quiet at the moment. Still, it wouldn't be nice to turn and go like that, when the others had already seen her come in. She sighed, shook her head slightly and turned to walk back into the room. Already inside, Lavi and Allen shot each other evil grins; Lenalee watched apprehensively, while Kanda sat to one side and absorbed himself in his book. Evans approached them warily; there was something in the air that she didn't quite like.

"So, how did the talk with Komui go? Did he tell you what he told us he would tell you?" Allen asked oh-so-casually.

"Yeah, Bookman told me all about the hypnosis thing. How could you do that?" Lavi draped an arm over the couch and turned to her seriously.

She considered them for a moment, and a smirk slowly spread over her face. "Nice try. Not working," she informed them haughtily.

Lavi and Allen feigned ignorance. "What are you talking about? No need to hide secrets, we know all about it already." Allen chimed with wide, innocent eyes.

Still smirking, Evans turned to Kanda. "I'm ashamed of you, Kanda. How could you condone such childish behavior?"

Kanda snorted, turned a page of his book and unbecomingly, let the comment slide. "Told you she wouldn't fall for it."

Lavi changed tactics swiftly, dropping his innocent-puppy-dog look faster than a lump of hot coal. "Come on, tell us what all of you are trying to hide from us already. Us young ones must band together!" he wheedled, going as far as to grab Evans' hand with both of his.

Evans tugged her hand out of his grasp. "If I remember correctly, you owe me your life. I have no obligation to tell you anything."

Lavi pouted. "Drats."

"I don't owe you my life," Allen offered eagerly. "So you can tell me everything!"

"You asked me for dagger lessons," Evans reminded him. Allen slouched sadly. One moment later, he brightened right up.

"Lenalee!" Allen nudged Lenalee. "You can ask her!"

"What- huh- me? Oh," Lenalee laughed nervously. "So… what's going on?" She asked Evans, eyes bright and adorable, and giving off distinct cute-vibes.

Evans leaned back from Lenalee as unobtrusively as possible. This was getting weird. That look should normally be reserved for pervy men like Lavi, not for fellow females. "Lenalee," she said mournfully, making her eyes go as big and as sad as possible. "How could you gang up with them on me like this? As fellow girls, aren't we supposed to stick together?" To her credit, Lenalee faltered. Evans suppressed a snicker- oh, Lenalee was too nice for words.

Lavi sensed defeat, and turned to Kanda urgently. "Yu! You're our last hope!"

"Bah," Kanda grunted and turned a page, ignoring Lavi.

"Oh, alright," Evans spoke up, eyes dancing with mischief. "Kanda gets _one_ question."

Lavi and Allen turned to her, flabbergasted. "Why on earth does _Kanda_ get a question and we don't?" Allen whined. "He didn't even wanna ask!"

"He gave me a good fight during training," she reminded them. "For that, I should think he deserves one question. Conditions apply, though."

Lavi pounced on the opening she had offered them. "Does that mean that if we train with you, we get a question each as well?" His eyes were wide, eager, his pose reminiscent of a puppy begging for scraps. Evans fought back the hysterical laughter that bubbled up within her, and struggled to keep her poker face. This was hilarious- certainly, it had chased her earlier bad mood away. She put a finger to her chin and pretended to think. Allen and Lavi gazed eagerly, expectantly up at her. Even Kanda looked up curiously from his book, wanting to see how this would play out.

"Hmm…" she hemmed and hawed, dragging the entertainment for as long as she could. Just as they started looking dejected, she put a resigned look on her face and said, "Oh, alright." They brightened up immediately; she fought even harder to suppress the giggles. "Conditions apply," she reminded them. "I won't answer a question if it is out-of-bounds."

"I'll take what I can get," Lavi promised brashly.

Evans simply grinned. "Bring it on."

"So how come you can use two Innocence fragments?" Allen piped up.

Easy. "Because both fragments can be synchronized with me," she answered readily. Allen looked thoroughly put out at her lacking answer, and opened his mouth to object. Evans intercepted him with a wagging finger. "I answered the question," she told him matter-of-factly.

"But that's unfair-"

"You just need to learn how to ask better questions," she interrupted cheekily, and leaned back onto the couch. A short period of silence reigned as the others mentally struggled to word their questions. Allen folded his arms and sulked.

"Under what exact circumstances did you come about having in your control two fragments of Innocence?" Lavi worded his question carefully and grinned craftily. No way was she going to get out of that one.

Without missing a beat, she replied, "Out-of-bounds."

Apparently, she could.

"How come Komui requested for us to leave you out of any fighting?"

"Out-of-bounds."

Lavi growled in frustration; Evans only laughed. Undeterred, he pressed on. "Why did you do that hypnosis thing that Bookman spoke of?"

She smiled sweetly. "Out-of-bounds."

Lavi was close to tearing his hair out. "Fine. What does this hypnosis thing do, anyway?"

She considered this question thoughtfully. "Well…hypnosis is the process of inducing the subject into a wakeful state of focused attention. The hypnotized subject can be made by the inducer to do a range of things through suggestion. For instance, under hypnosis, the subject can be made to display his latent abilities to their extreme limit, when he normally may not even be aware of such abilities."

She glanced at the others; they looked somewhat awestruck. She continued quickly, "But hypnosis is a very, very dangerous technique- in cases of amateur application, it can be fatal. So don't try at home, boys and girls." She mustered a cheery smile.

"Does this mean that you're good at it?" Allen asked curiously.

"You've had your question," Evans reminded him. "There's only Lenalee and Kanda left." Forgetting Allen's questions, Allen and Lavi immediately turned their attention to Lenalee. Lenalee fidgeted a little under the pressure and scrutiny.

"No telling the rest what questions to ask," Evans warned Allen and Lavi.

Lavi groaned. "All right."

Lenalee thought hard. "All these secrets. What's at stake?"

Evans sucked in a breath and pursed her lips. "Nice question," she admitted grudgingly. "It's not exactly out-of-bounds, and it'll probably give you a clue."

"Go Lenalee!" Lavi cheered. "Go on, what's the answer?"

"What's at stake… is the fate of the world. The world could be annihilated; the Order decimated; all of us, dead."

Silence.

"Wow," Allen finally said.

Evans smiled sardonically. "Wow is right. Now, last question?"

Everyone turned to look at Kanda expectantly. "What," he snapped.

"Your turn, Kanda. Now, now, don't disappoint us, alright?" Allen told him in a creepy voice.

"This is fucking dumb," Kanda grumbled. "Who the hell cares about all these stuff?"

"You do, and you know it," Lavi told him. "Just ask already!"

"Fine," Kanda muttered. "Why did Leverrier order us not to use Innocence the other day, during our fight?"

Evans was surprised. She didn't think he would still remember that. "Why, to prove to Komui that I could defend myself just as well without Innocence of course, so Komui would comply and let me go on the missi-" _Whoops._ "-so he would let me go on the mission with a peace of mind," Evans continued smoothly, hoping the correction would go unnoticed. "So!" She smiled beatifically. "That's the end of the question-and-answer segment; I thank you all for coming! Do get a good night's sleep today, because I'll be claiming my training session bright and early tomorrow morning!"

With that, she scooted from the couch and made for the door, waving a cheery goodbye over her shoulder. The minute she was out the door, she breathed a light sigh of relief. _Please don't let them notice the slip,_ she leaned against the wall and prayed silently. _Lenalee's question was bad enough._

"What are you doing?"

Her hand flew to her heart, startled. She hadn't noticed that Allen had come out after her. "Nothing," Evans said casually, and started walking down the hallway. Allen fell into step beside her.

"Well, I was thinking… you reminded me about the dagger lessons earlier, so… when do you want to teach me?"

Evans brightened. "No time like the present. Let's go to Training Hall 2."

"Uh, wait, what? You just woke up today, shouldn't you rest a little?"

She rolled her eyes. "Please don't make me go back to that infirmary. I've practically memorized the ceiling already."

To her surprise, he laughed- a pleasant, charming sound.

"Alright then," he smiled at her, eyes twinkling. "Let's go."

-

**a/n**: A bit of a filler. As always, please review, and I swear the next chapter will come sooner.


	10. How do you soothe a troubled heart?

**.how do you soothe a troubled heart?.**

"Alright, let's revise what you've learnt," Evans instructed. Allen nodded. Tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth, he concentrated hard on the daggers he were holding in his hand. He deftly maneuvered the daggers, adjusting the position of his hands on the hilt with ease. Evans smiled, satisfied. "Nice work. You learn fast," she told him as she made her way to the side of the arena. Allen followed.

He shrugged modestly. "You're a good teacher," he replied as he handed her a bottle of water. She took a swig out of it and wagged her finger warningly at him.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," she declared, and settled herself onto the steps leading to the arena.

Allen grinned and sat down beside her.

"Next lesson, I'll teach you how to flip the daggers," she informed him happily. "You can keep the two daggers you have for practice."

He glanced down at the daggers in his hand and then up at her uncertainly. "You sure? Do you have enough?"

She laughed lightly. "Sure. In any case, I can always get the Science Department to get me new ones."

"How many daggers do you have now?" Allen asked curiously.

She looked him in the eye seriously. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Allen blinked, at a loss of words. Then, Evans' face broke out into a smile, and Allen grinned, relieved. "No, seriously," Evans told him. "It's not a good idea to tell people how many daggers you carry, or what type of weapons, for that matter. This kind of information can always be used against you."

Allen nodded. "Point taken." He smiled at her shyly, disarmingly. "I didn't think of that. Sorry."

"Nah, it's alright."

They lapsed into comfortable silence.

"Who taught you combat?" Allen shifted in his seat to face her, his gray eyes curious.

Instantly, her face became guarded. "Renee Epsteine."

He nodded in recognition of the name. Renee had been involved in the Level Four's destruction of the previous Black Order Headquarters, as well as in the many discussions held by Leverrier about the 14th Noah. He had seen her before. She seemed to be an imposing woman.

"… and my father."

Allen blinked in surprise. She hadn't mentioned anything about her family before.

"Really? That's unusual. How did your father come to know such skills?"

She hesitated before answering. "He was the Commander of a regiment stationed locally." She looked down at her hands. "He was exceptionally talented at combat. He taught me and my sister everything we knew," she whispered.

Allen didn't miss the use of past tense; this was obviously an awkward topic. He searched his mind for a new topic. "So, since you're obviously good at using weaponry like daggers and swords, why did you choose a bow for your Equipment-type Innocence instead?"

Evans looked up in surprise. She would've thought it was obvious. Then again, maybe not- seeing how he knew nothing about her, and who she was. "The bow was a long-ranged weapon. Komui thought it would be more suited for me." Allen nodded, more in acknowledgement of her reply than in response. They sat in silence for a while more.

"So, what do you like to eat?" Evans asked cheekily, out of the blue. "You eat a lot too, right?"

"I like to eat everything," Allen assured her, quite liking the new, lighter mood. "You?"

Evans grinned, a dimple appearing in her cheek. "Oh, I like to eat everything too."

Allen had to laugh. "We must have an eating competition soon."

Evans wrinkled her nose. "No way! Trust me, I've heard a lot about your appetite," she retorted.

"Oh, so you're scared?" Allen taunted.

"No, more like terrified."

They laughed.

"How was the cook like at the North American branch? Anything like Jerry?"

She shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I've never been in the dining hall there before."

Allen was surprised. "Really? How long were you there?"

That guarded look came into her eyes again. "A few weeks, maybe a month or so."

Allen knew enough by now to steer clear of any topic that warranted that closed-off expression. "You know, I was at the Asia Branch once, and the cook there looked very much like Jerry." He flashed a grin at her. "I wondered if they were related."

"Really? What kind of food did he serve there?" She was genuinely interested; he could tell, by the way she leaned slightly forward and looked at him curiously.

"He probably can cook anything, just like Jerry," he assured her. "But most people there order Asian cuisine, so I ate stuff like dumplings and braised duck."

"Dumplings? Braised duck? What are those?"

He began to go into an explanation of the various foods that he tried at the Asia Branch. The conversation gradually turned towards the events that happened there, and Evans couldn't help but laugh when Allen recalled the time Fou impersonated Lou Fa. She sobered up when Allen got to the part where the Branch was attacked by the Level Three, but she relaxed with relief when he ended his recount on a somewhat happy note.

"Wow," she said softly, looking at him straight in the eye. "That was a lot to go through." He smiled sheepishly and shrugged. Once again, that strange emotion in her pale blue eyes threw him off guard, disorientated him a little. He ducked his head shyly and took another swig of water.

Just then, Lenalee walked in. "Evans," she called out, smiling. "I've been looking for you. Komui wanted me to show you to your new room- he says you don't have to live in the infirmary anymore."

Allen looked over at Evans for her reaction- she looked taken aback.

"He really said that?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yup. Come on, I'll show you! You'll like it," Lenalee took her hand cheerfully and led her off to her new room. "Want to come too, Allen?" Lenalee called out over her shoulder.

Allen smiled back at Lenalee, shrugged and got up to follow them.

***

He closed the door gently behind him and cursed softly under his breath. No way was his mind going to let him sleep again tonight. He shoved his hands into his pocket, tucked his scarf closer round his neck- it was freezing that night- and started walking, his mind working furiously.

_The fate of the world, huh?_

Along with that little slip-up that she thought no one had noticed, that was all the recent clues he had gotten. He thought hard. That slip-up revealed that Komui hadn't been willing to send her on a mission and that he had been forced. But why wouldn't he want to do so? Wouldn't he want to make use of all the manpower the Order had in order to further their fight against the Earl? And the dire consequences that Evans had highlighted earlier had confirmed Lenalee's suspicions that this was something big, not to be taken lightly.

He groaned and ran a hand through his auburn hair. This… this _mystery_ was driving him crazy. What was so extraordinary about this girl? He mentally ran through several possibilities, each one as likely as the next. Or unlikely. It worked both ways. He came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the hallway. He had too little clues- it would be unwise to come to anything conclusive based on guesswork. What he had to do was to gather more clues, wait for her to slip up again. Yes, he decided, he needed to wait, to bide his time.

Or he could simply either badger Bookman until the old man finally told him.

He gave a light laugh and ruffled his hair again. Nothing he could do tonight- might as well go back to his room to wait the night out, before he started trying to crack either Evans or Bookman. He turned to go back to his room…

…when suddenly, the still night was rend by a scream.

He didn't think, didn't hesitate before he acted on his instincts and ran towards the source of the sound. He couldn't bring himself to a stop in time, and crashed against the door. He rammed his fist against it, trying for the life of him to remember whose room it was.

"Hey! Are you alright in there?" he shouted, pounding the door. The screaming continued, but he didn't pause to think why it sounded familiar. He put his shoulder to the door, shoved it with the triangle of his shoulder; it popped open easily. He smiled briefly with satisfaction- years of breaking into Yu's room brought with them certain valuable skills- before he rushed into the room.

He was confronted by a familiar scene- a bundle of sheets, thrashing and writhing, screaming as if a life depended on it- and suddenly remembered that night in the infirmary, where Evans lay sleeping. He glanced around nervously- he had somehow wandered into a more isolated corner of the sleeping quarters of the HQ. Nevertheless, people were going to start waking up soon if that screaming continued.

He made his way to the bed, tried his best to remember how he had soothed her, had calmed her down that night. Pinning her shoulders down, he shook her once. "Wake up," he ordered, his whisper coming out harsher than he intended for it to sound. "Wake up."

The screaming keened off slowly; her mouth was still open, though. Lavi guessed that her throat had run hoarse. He shook her once more, firmly, and her eyelids fluttered open, her eyes unseeing; wild with fear and panic, almost animalistic in their intensity.

"Lex," she half-mumbled, half-sobbed, her voice hoarse. She fisted her hands in his shirt, crashed herself into his chest, shaking violently. He froze at once, stunned. Did she even know who he was, or was he supposed to be this Lex person? Was she even conscious in the first place?

His hands fluttered around her, unsure of what to do, how to comfort her. "Everything's alright," he tried. "Everything's fine, don't worry. Don't be scared. Everything's fine," he soothed. He patted her back awkwardly and attempted to lie her back down. Her hands were still fisted firmly in his shirt; as a result, he had to bend over almost double as her back settled onto the bed. He smoothed her hair. "Go to sleep," he coaxed in a light whisper. "Everything's alright, go back to sleep now."

Slowly, surely, she began to calm down. Her panicked breathing began to ease, began to even out. "Lex…" she mumbled, her eyelids fluttering shut. "Everything's… alright…" Her fists relaxed, loosening her hold on Lavi's shirt. "Mother," she sighed lightly, and sank back into sleep, a serene expression coming onto her face.

Lavi gently extricated his shirt from her loosely-closed fists; in doing so, a flash of silver dropped onto the bed, bounced once and landed on the floor. He knelt to pick it up automatically, and turned it over in his hand. It was a locket of some sort, a silver heart with an intricate design.

The chain was broken- she must have torn it off in her sleep, he decided, and clenched it in her hand. He looked at her hands, still half-closed by her sides and picked the one closest to him. He unfolded her fingers and placed the locket in her palm.

In the dim moonlight, he caught sight of the scar. He lifted the locket up and looked closer, curious. _So this was the scar they were talking about, _he thought and fingered it interestedly. His fingers followed the shape of an indent; in the darkness of the room, he squinted at the scar closely.

The indent was shaped like a heart.

Instantly, his mind flew to the locket. He placed the locket gently into the indent in her scar. It fitted perfectly. His mind started racing- this locket was obviously in her hand when she was given that cursed scar. Yet, an ordinary object wouldn't leave such an indent- presumably, her palm would scar smoothly despite her holding the locket. In any case, if she was scarred in a similar way as Allen, the Akuma's claw would have torn apart the locket, along with the flesh of her palm.

That meant that firstly, she wasn't directly cursed by an Akuma- at least, not in the same way as Allen. Secondly, that locket was no ordinary object.

This locket was it- the additional clue that he had wanted earlier. His fingers itched to examine it. He glanced cautiously at her sleeping face, pale and smooth in the dim moonlight. She seemed to be asleep, her breathing regular and even. He glanced back at the locket, took a deep breath and opened it.

He narrowed his eyes. He hadn't known what to expect, but it certainly wasn't _this._ A picture lay beneath the tiny metal claws within the locket, holding it in place. It was a picture of _herself_. On the opposite side, there was a minuscule inscription. _Lex. _Beneath it was written,_ with love._

He couldn't help but snort. How vain was she, to put her own picture in her locket? Weren't lockets meant to hold pictures of your loved ones, your beau or something? This Lex person was probably some random guy in her romantic past, he decided. Or present, even- he could still be lurking around.

He shook his head. To think he had anticipated the locket to be a valuable clue. Sighing heavily, he got up, still grasping the locket. He looked at it consideringly and weighted it in his palm.

He came to a decision right there and then.

***

She stirred once, twice. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she held a hand against her forehead, wincing. Last night's dream had been particularly vivid. She dragged herself upright and shook her head once to clear the thoughts. Out of habit, her hand flew to her neck. Her eyes widened as her fingers floundered. Fully awake now, she lifted her sheets off her body and looked around her frantically.

"Looking for this?" A deep baritone drawled.

She glanced sharply at the source of the voice; Lavi leaned casually against the walls of a corner of her room, a hand in his pocket, the other arm outstretched towards her, indifferent. She squinted closer; there was something silver swinging from his fist, making slow, hypnotizing arcs in the air. She gasped in shocked outrage, flung the sheets from her and stomped up to him. "How dare you," she seethed coldly. "What business do you have in my room, with my things?"

"You were screaming your head off last night," he informed her, grinning down at her frigid face.

She faltered.

"And," he continued cheerily. "You snapped the chain off while you were thrashing around. I was kind enough to fix it for you." His grin turned smug.

She remained silent, head bowed. His grin grew even wider. "So, you want to tell me what's so special about this locket? And why you were screaming in your sleep?" He swung the chain about his hand.

Like lightning, her hand flashed out, rapped Lavi neatly on the knuckles and grabbed the locket back when his fingers loosened reflexively, all without lifting her head. When she did look up, her eyes were bottomless. Her other hand shot up and grasped his neck, pinning him effectively against the wall. "If you value the life that I saved, _you_ _will never tell anyone about what you saw or heard here_. Do you understand me?" Her voice was toneless; yet, Lavi found himself shuddering at the undercurrent of steel, callousness he heard. He could have broken out of her hold any second; she wasn't anywhere as strong as he could be, but it wasn't her grip that held him- it had been her tone.

Without waiting for him to reply, she released her hold quickly. "Get out," she tossed sharply over her shoulder.

She expected him to scramble to do as she said, but instead, he clasped his hand on her shoulder and swung her around to face him. His hand was warm; disarmingly so. She felt her breath catch.

"Are you alright?" He looked down at her, his green eye kind. She blinked up at him in surprise, lips slightly apart, confused. "This isn't the first time you've been screaming in your sleep," he continued. His eyes stared into hers searchingly, genuinely concerned. "If you need to talk, need anything, I'll be here. We all will be. This is your home now."

He could see her eyes soften, her features become less harsh. She broke away from his gaze- was it him or did she do it with a hint of reluctance?

"You are Bookman. You're not supposed to say things like that," she told him quietly.

He faltered, and loosened his grip on her shoulders. She took a step back, away from him.

"Thanks anyway." Her voice was quieter than before; he almost couldn't catch her words. She turned around and simply walked out of her room, leaving Lavi staring after her.

-

**a/n: **There you go- the connection between the locket and her scar is starting to be revealed, and more mysteries abound =)

I heard that Hoshino-sensei's coming back on March 9 so I guess all hopes of me finishing this before she comes back is shot. Never fear, though- I'll try my best to finish this even if I have to die trying. I totally screwed up my A levels because this story was gallivanting around in my brain. And the results are coming out this Friday. ZOMG.

SO... please review, the few of you who're actually reading this, and make me happy. I promise the next chapter will come sooner =)

Eternal thanks to Aviantei, who made my day.


	11. If you value my sanity

**a/n: **Much thanks to Kouyan and Aviantei =) You guys seriously rock!

-

**.if you value my sanity.**

Walking away, she felt a stir of consternation. Bookmen were supposed to be rational, above all else. They were supposed to observe without emotion, to record without bias. Yet, here was a Bookman Junior that so obviously contradicted his Bookman grandfather. She had to meet the latter the first day he was back at the Order, and she clearly remembered the awe he inspired in her; the dedication he had to his job, his duty.

Yet, how could his grandson have turned out this way? She could see it clearly in his eye- this was a boy that had already formed lasting bonds, unbreakable attachments to the Order; more specifically, to Allen and the others. When the time came to make the choice between his Bookman duty and his friends, she doubted that his decision would be as clear cut as it should be.

She shook her head resolutely. She couldn't approve of his flippancy towards his Bookman duty. As far as she could tell from what the elder Bookman had told her, the Bookman clan had a noble duty, of great importance in the world. Deviance from the approved behavior of such a clan shouldn't be tolerated. Weakness couldn't be abided with, especially when it could wield such mortal consequences. For that very reason, she expected herself to carry out her duty to the Order unquestioningly.

She shouldn't hold respect for such a person. His irresponsibility, his lack of absolute dedication to his duty- all were qualities that she had no business learning from. She really shouldn't associate with such a character, much less like his laid-back attitude and infallible cheer. She really shouldn't admire the easy way he could offer his care, his concern, his _heart_ to others.

Nevertheless, she couldn't help herself. It was a given fact that Lavi was a ridiculously difficult person to dislike. She suspected that even Kanda had a soft spot for him, only it was probably hidden deep down. _Really_ deep down.

And really, what Bookmen did or did not do was none of her business. She was here for a singular reason, not to interfere in the affairs of the Bookmen. Whatever Lavi did was none of her concern. She had had enough on her hands without having to waste precious brain space on worrying about the duties and obligations of others.

She sighed deeply, shook her head free of such depressing thoughts and turned down the passageway that led to the dining hall for breakfast, when she bumped into Lenalee who was just about to exit the double doors.

"Hey Evans, I'm really sorry, but we won't be able to train with you today. Komui just called us down for missions," Lenalee said apologetically. She searched the younger girl's eyes anxiously, looking for any sign of disappointment.

Automatically, Evans smiled reassuringly. "It's alright," she assured the other girl. "There's always some other time."

Lenalee nodded, relieved. "Of course," she told Evans. "We'll train together the minute we come back from the missions." She smiled beatifically. "I have to go, now," she continued. "See you around!" She turned to walk off.

Evans couldn't help herself; she called out after her, "Take care, okay?"

Lenalee turned back, surprised, but flashed a bright smile and waved. "We will," she called back, and continued on her way to Komui's office. Evans frowned, and continued into the dining hall. What possessed her to say something like that?

***

In the end, though, it didn't matter; it seemed that no one had heeded her after all.

She had to watch as medics wheeled one after the other into the infirmary. Lenalee came in first, her legs heavily bandaged. At least she was still conscious. Komui had rushed to her side the second she entered the HQ doors, and had stayed there ever since.

"Brother," Lenalee smiled weakly. "I'll be fine; you don't have to stick with me all the time. Go do your work; otherwise the Science Department will start complaining again." But Komui refused unfalteringly; at least, until Kanda and Allen were wheeled in next. They definitely looked worse for the wear, and both were out for the count. Evans didn't quite know why, but she wrung her fingers distractedly until the Head Nurse declared that they would be fine.

Last but not least were Lavi and Miranda. Bookman had trotted in by the red-haired boy's side, and stalwartly waved off anxious medics. "Treat the boy and Miranda first," he told them irritatedly, impatiently and somehow Evans couldn't help but smile, albeit feebly. For all his violence and outward annoyance with his apprentice, Bookman cared, after all.

Noise Marie, Chaoji and Krory were out there somewhere, still on missions. Evans found herself standing at the doorway of the infirmary, looking in at the patients and unconsciously praying for them to heal fast, to get well soon; for the ones who were still on missions to come back, safe, unscathed.

She shook her head in disgust when she realized the fact and headed off to Training Hall 1 quickly. From then on, she steadfastly avoided the infirmary like the plague.

***

It was four in the morning. She wiped off the sweat on her forehead with a small towel and headed for the door, still frowning. She remembered her earlier conversation with Komui.

-

_"You have to," she insisted calmly. "You're short on manpower. Most of the other Exorcists are still in the infirmary. You cannot run the remaining ones ragged like this. Just use me."_

_Komui shook his head firmly. "You know what happened the last time," he reminded her. "I'm not taking any risks. Besides, with the manpower shortage, all the more I can't send you on a mission."_

_She stared at him and enunciated her words clearly. "You know my capabilities, Head Officer. I can probably accomplish the __missions far faster on my own, even."_

_He raised a brow. "I'm not letting you go out there without some semblance of protection."_

_She had almost snarled at that one, but kept her calm. "You cannot protect me forever. You cannot protect the world forever, either. Sooner or later, I will have to go out there on my own and face whatever's out there for me." Her eyes softened, almost pleading. "You know my fate, Head Officer."_

_Komui said resolutely, his dark eyes boring into her, willing her to listen, "Then I'd rather it be later." _

_She narrowed her eyes, suppressing shudders of rage. "You know how hard I've been training, Head Officer. This isn't fair. Not to me, not to the others."_

_He leaned forward intently and worded his words carefully, cautiously. "Since when did you care so much about the others?" He raised a brow. "Not that I'm against that, of course, but you know how Leverrier feels about that."_

_She smiled sardonically. "Of course. He sees us as mere tools, after all."_

_He viewed her seriously. "You know I don't, Evans." _

_"I know you don't, Head Officer, but the fact remains that we are. That I am. So you need to get over this ridiculous protectiveness and send me off on-"_

_He cut her off abruptly. "What I said still stands. End of discussion, Evans." He dismissed her with a wave of his hand._

_She glared at him for a long time after that, but when he simply ignored her, she stomped out of there, taking sadistic comfort in trodding on as much paper as she could on the way to the door. _

_-_

She shook her head wearily. Day after day since Lenalee and the others had left for missions, leaving her the only Exorcist left in HQ, she had trained non-stop, pausing only for mealtimes. It was the only way she saw; the only way that Komui would eventually trust enough to use her on missions. The only way she could gain rein over _it. _And she could feel herself improving- really, she did. She sighed, and turned the handle of the door to walk out of Training Hall 1, only to walk straight into Kanda.

She looked up in surprise; he looked down at her, his dark eyes expressionless. She blinked and surveyed him cautiously. He seemed fine; for all intents and purposes, he appeared to be fully healed. "How are the others?" she asked him, warily, careful not to insert too much emotion into her words.

"Fine," he bit out. "Now get out of the way." He made to push his way through.

"Allen's still not awake?" She guessed. His expression cleared; as rapidly, his eyes darkened to an imperceptible black. "You're worried about him, and the others?"

"Are you fucking _nuts_?" he snapped furiously. "Why in the goddamned world would I care about that goddamned beansprout? It's his fucking fault that we came back in this state." He turned his head huffily, his sleek ponytail following the movement with a swish. "Like I'd care about the others, anyway."

She fixed her eyes on him intently. "If you say so," she murmured mildly and turned to go. Kanda might be prickly and annoyed all the time, but she was sure that he cared, just like Bookman. In fact, _everyone_ cared. She was beginning to see the truth in Lavi's last words to her- that everyone was there, would be there for one another. That this was indeed home to them.

She sighed heavily. Another _home_ was definitely not what she needed nor wanted at the moment. In fact, she didn't know if she would ever want one for the rest of her life; in any case, it would be too soon.

_But was Komu- no, the Head Officer right?_ Was she really getting attached to the others, to the Order? She bit her lower lip distractedly as she walked. It was inevitable, she decided, that she would have formed some minor sort of bond with the others, having fought with them, by them. Unavoidable. And they were somewhat living together, after all. She could hardly be like Kanda; angsty, snappish, all too ready to drive people from him. For one, look at where that got him- he still managed to get himself friends, anyway. For another, with Lavi the inexhaustible Energizer bunny around, it was just going to produce an opposite effect- Lavi would pester her like he already did Kanda.

So, yes. Yes, it was expected to form some semblance of bonds. Yes, it was alright to appear a little attached to the others. It was normal. Perfectly so. She pulled herself ramrod straight and nodded her head in conviction.

"Oy Evans!!!" A cheery voice yelled happily, and she found herself enveloped in a red-topped warm mass. She stayed in the hug the exact amount of time she was required to for politeness' sake, and extricated herself from it the second that time was up.

"Bookman Junior?" She blinked up at Lavi, unable to keep the surprise from her expression. "You're up?"

"Yeesh, of course I am! It was a total pain having to lie down for so many days," he pouted. She felt her lip muscles involuntarily pull themselves into a smile and cursed herself viciously.

"That's nice to know," she said vaguely, forcing her facial muscles to rearrange themselves into an emotionless expression.

"Nice, my ass," he laughed.

"How are the others?" she asked carefully.

"Ah, everyone's more or less up," he assured her brightly. "The Head Nurse's what keeping us in there now." He shuddered, and then leaned down and added in a conspiratorial whisper, "I snuck out." He waggled his visible eyebrow for good measure. She couldn't help it- really, she couldn't. A smile spread across her face; moments later, she burst out laughing.

Lavi grinned, pleased. "Are you heading down to the dining hall?" He started walking with her. She nodded once, the laughter still lingering in her eyes.

"Awesome. I'll come with. You wouldn't believe the slop the Head Nurse feeds us. A pile of white cardboard mush masquerading as innocent chicken porridge. Every single meal. Every single day. 'It's all for your own good,' she says, but honestly- since when was eating cellulose for your own good? I mean, sure, it's absolutely tasteless and sure, it's like cow food, but what the hell, right? And then Allen said-"

"Syrona," a voice called out. She turned around, sufficiently distracted by Lavi's chatter, to see Leverrier and Link coming up to her.

***

He found himself staring into the face of that vile Leverrier, and his annoying sycophant Link. Involuntarily, his hands fisted by his side. He took a small step in front of Evans- no need to expose innocents to Leverrier's unpleasantness- and stood tall, glaring at Leverrier. Yet, to his utmost surprise, Evans stepped around and away from him, towards Leverrier.

"Inspector," she said respectfully, a small smile on her face. "You're back."

He looked on wonderingly as Leverrier favored her with a small smile of his own. It certainly seemed genuine enough. Lavi narrowed his eyes curiously.

"Of course," Leverrier said heartily. "How have you been?" There was an undercurrent of _something_ in his tone; something that hinted at a darker meaning beneath that casual question. Lavi caught Leverrier casting him a swift side-glance, and then looking back at Evans as if nothing had happened.

Evans nodded obediently. "I'm fine."

"Training hard?" The way he said it, it didn't seem like a question; more like a confirmation.

She nodded again. Leverrier's serpentine smile widened, pleased. "Good, good," he told her. "Keep it up."

Lavi wanted to snort; Leverrier was looking at her like an uncle would look at a favorite niece. Utterly disgusting. He half-expected Leverrier to pat her on the head in the next moment. This was truly, truly disturbing. He wondered why this was happening; if this friendly interaction between Leverrier and _anyone_ would ever happen again. If it was even happening in the first place. Was he hallucinating after that smack on the head that the Head Nurse had given him earlier?

Her smile had widened a little too; she looked up at Leverrier, a hint of satisfaction in her eyes. "I will," she said dutifully.

"I have to go see Komui in his office now," he told her. She nodded graciously to let him pass, and turned her attention to the blond boy following him.

"Howard," she smiled warmly. "Long time no see."

"Indeed, Syrona." Link smiled back. "I'll see you later." He waved farewell and turned to dog Leverrier's footsteps down the hallway.

Lavi waited impatiently until both of them were out of hearing range, and then turned to Evans, bewildered. "What is wrong with you?" He threw up his hands up dramatically. "How can you be so nice to that disgusting man?"

She turned to stare at him, shocked. Her features recovered and her eyes turned cold. "He is not disgusting," she said coolly. "I will appreciate it if you stop calling him that."

"What are you _on_? Don't you know what he did to Lenalee, to Allen?"

"He has his reasons," she said vaguely, icily as she started walking up the hallway again. He felt the stirrings of frustration at her transformation.

"What kind of warped reasons would those be? I can't believe what I just saw. I can't believe _you_. Ugh. And you were calling Link by his given name! No one calls him that. But you just did." He paused for breath. "Who are they to you? For that matter, who are you to them? I've never seen them so genuinely nice to anyone. And they called you by your given name as well! How come you let them call you that when you never let us?" He pouted.

Evans smiled sardonically, amusedly. "If you value my sanity," she told him calmly, "you would leave those questions alone."

A heartbeat or three of silence; Lavi didn't quite know how to react to that odd statement. Evans broke the awkward quiet. "Let's hurry to the dining hall," she suggested aloofly, averting her eyes. "I'm starving."

He nodded compliantly, still confused, and sped up his footsteps, following in her wake.

***

She felt the rush of wind in her hair and smiled smugly- she'd known that Leverrier's arrival would have certain benefits. For one, Komui had been forced to send her on a mission, on the insistence of Leverrier. For another, it was a great way to prove to Komui that she could do this. Solo .

She flapped her wings once, bringing her several feet higher into the air and started soaring on the night air currents, sighing happily. It had been a long time since she was allowed to fly like this, and that little stint with Lavi certainly hadn't counted. She glanced down at the city beneath her- Barcelona, Spain wasn't exactly far, but nevertheless, she was grateful for the chance to stretch her wings. Anyway, if it weren't for the fact that Barcelona was still within Europe, Komui would have never willingly let her go.

The night air was cold, freezing, but she didn't mind- the numbness of her body was a welcome feeling, strange, but familiar. Her mind drifted from the mechanical task of flying, and settled onto other things. Specifically, things that the Bookman Junior had said earlier. She frowned as she remembered Lavi's reaction to her run-in with the Inspector and Howard. He had asked many questions- that was expected, for he was the apprentice of Bookman after all.

What came as a surprise was her own reaction to those questions- she felt _guilty_ even thinking about evading the questions, changing the subject or even making up the answers. Her heart took a little dive when she realized that; that she _was_ getting attached, that she _was_ developing feelings for the others at HQ.

My God, she was turning into a Lavi. And an Allen. And a Lenalee. And oh Gods, maybe even a Komui.

She sighed heavily, told herself to let it go for now and pushed all thoughts resolutely out of her mind. Now wasn't the time for her mind to wander, she told herself sternly, especially with emotions that she definitely shouldn't be having. The complications of her feelings, her thoughts alone would drive her nuts. Now, she was on a mission. And she left it at that.

She peered down at a section of the city that was heavily obscured in fog, an unusual occurrence that started up the day before. _That's my stop, alright_. Relieved for the cover the fog afforded her, she inactivated her Innocence and landed deftly on her feet.

She straightened up and looked around cautiously. The fog was absurdly thick; visibility was only a couple of metres, maybe even lesser. No one appeared to be around; then again, she probably couldn't tell if there were. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, ignoring the strange and mildly pleasant smell of the fog, letting the natural attraction guide her. Doubtless, the intoxicating scent would have peculiar effects on any lesser mortal.

Her eyes snapped open, and she immediately headed to the left.

Moments later, she stopped in front of a flower shop. "Yamanaka's Flower Shop," she mused thoughtfully. What a weird name. She glanced down at the door. Locked, of course. She looked up to gaze into the glass window inlaid into the wood. No one inside. Fantastic. She bent down and extricated a silver dagger from her right boot, then went to work on the lock. Soon enough, it clicked. A push of a finger and the door swung open soundlessly.

She stepped inside and squinted through the persistent fog that was present even indoors. She walked into the shop's backroom purposefully and successfully stopped herself from flinching as the scent hit her full on. Waving her hand over her nose, she headed straight for the enormous flower standing alone in a large tub of water.

"Big guy, aren't you?" she murmured as she hauled it out of the water. It was easily the biggest and the ugliest flower she had ever seen, easily her height, with a flower head as big as her own. It came to life, and _snapped_ at her. She held the flower as far away from her as possible as she fumbled around for the Innocence vessel she'd brought along with her. "Bad boy," she reprimanded the flower firmly. The flower wilted a little in response. Her fingers caught hold on a smooth glass surface and hooked around a metal grip. She hesitated; her hand paused on her tool-belt.

"If I don't crush and extract the Innocence from you, will you promise not to bite me?"

The petals unfolded a little more, and the flower visibly perked up. Evans shrugged and let go of the Innocence vessel. The flower would make somewhat of a companion on the flight home. She let herself out the front door of the shop and walked out into the street. Bending her knees into a crouch, she invoked her Innocence and leaped into the air swiftly. Beside her, in her arms, the flower trembled and cowered a little.

She couldn't help but smile. _This was too easy._

***

"This was too easy," she told Komui as she strode in the door and tossed the flower at him. He caught it and flinched as the flower tried to snap at him.

"And so?" he said mildly.

She refrained from scowling, and instead, told him, "So you should send me on more missions."

He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, eyes glinting warningly. "You know as well as I do that I wouldn't have sent you for that mission if not for Leverrier. Don't expect too much to come out of that." Pause. "In fact, don't expect anything at all."

"Leverrier's bound to make you assign me more missions," Evans pointed out.

Komui smiled smugly. "I wouldn't bet on that though. The Vatican impressed on him how important you are. I should hardly think he'd want to put you in risk easily. We agreed to send you on this mission only because it seemed safe and easy, and had gone unnoticed by the Akuma. Also because the other Exorcists aren't fully healed yet." He paused, then added softly, "Even if you're just a tool that should be made to work your purpose, you're a very important tool."

Her eyes darkened. She turned around abruptly to head out the door, when Komui said quietly, "Nice job on that mission, by the way."

She turned back to him. He offered her a hesitant smile. She gave him a curt nod and walked out the door.

***

Once outside the door, though, she hesitated. Looking outside a convenient window, she could see it was dawn- the dark blue of midnight was heavily streaked with pink and gold. What should she do now? Head back to sleep? To training? Or to the dining hall? She pondered on this for a moment or two, before decided to work off her excess frustration. Sighing deeply and shaking her head, she started in the direction of Training Hall 1.

Unconsciously, her feet took her the route that led past the infirmary. She slowed down as she walked past the door to the infirmary, then stopped. Should she go visit them? Making a split-second decision and leaving no room for doubt nor for the chiding she was sure she would give herself later, she nodded firmly to herself and backtracked.

Peering through the door of the infirmary, she had a sudden, ominous feeling. Déjà vu, more like.

All of them were awake, and all of them were looking straight at her, with the exception of Kanda. (Surprise, surprise.) Lavi and Allen, once again, had that mischievous expression on their faces; Miranda and Lenalee had but resignation written all over them. Kanda was back in bed, having undoubtedly been caught by the Head Nurse for getting out of it prematurely. He was, as usual, ignoring everyone else and reading his book.

"Hey Evans," Lavi yelled brightly, catching her before her instinct for survival kicked in, and made her turn tail and run. "Want to play poker?"

-

**a/n: **If you haven't noticed by now, my updates have been more or less on a weekly basis. It is now my sad duty to tell you that unfortunately, updates might be less frequent from now on, due to university admissions, applications, etc . Keyword being_ might_, of course, because I'll definitely make time to write.

So as usual, review and make me happy and I _just_ might have the next chapter up sooner =)


	12. Fall out

**a/n:** Rated for language, though not by the person you're probably expecting. You've been... warned?

-

**.fall out.**

She frowned at the full-house perched eagerly in her hands before peeking over them, glaring at the straight flush Allen was laying out on the bed.

"No fair," she demanded crossly. "I'm just getting the hang of this game. This round doesn't count."

Allen chuckled. "Oh, all right," he said good-naturedly and gathered all their cards for a re-shuffling.

"Next time it's gonna count," Lavi warned, grinning widely. Evans scratched her head absentmindedly and pretended not to hear him. She knew she really should get back to training- her inner Leverrier was already chiding her about her spending unnecessary time with the others- but this new game was strangely addictive. "I still can't believe you've never heard of poker," Lavi continued, nudging Evans in the ribs playfully. "You're such a loser. _Everyone's_ heard of poker."

"Uh?" she said distractedly, picking up her first two cards as Allen gave them out and peering closely at them. It took five more seconds before her head registered the comment and whipped up to face Lavi. "I'm not a loser! Of course I've heard of poker," she snapped huffily. "I just never learnt how to play it."

"Yeah, right," Lavi teased. "I totally believe you."

Evans gave him a dark stare. "Whatever," she muttered sulkily. She brightened immediately after. "Ooh! You finished giving out the cards!" She picked up the rest of the cards with obvious glee, and examined each of them carefully.

Lavi shot Allen a quick wink, which the latter returned with a smile, and a nod of thanks. The gesture was completely lost on Evans, who now pored over the cards in her hands with a frown on her face.

***

Several games later, she threw in her cards with frustration as Allen revealed yet another straight flush. She could swear the cards were ganging up on her, and her alone. The quality of her hand of cards had deteriorated rapidly after her first game- for the previous game, they had hardly even made sense. What's more, this seemed to be the case only for her. The others had had good cards every now and then, leaving her in the dust.

She pouted to herself and turned to Lenalee to commiserate- Lenalee was second-last, by a long mile- when she caught Lenalee hiding a smile at something happening behind her. She twisted her upper body around, just in time to catch Allen winking at Lavi, and Lavi giggling in return.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously as a prospect occurred to her. _No way,_ she reasoned with herself. _They wouldn't do this to me._

Outwardly, she remained calm. "You wouldn't happen to be hustling me, would you?" she addressed the two boys casually.

Lavi and Allen instantly rearranged their faces to give identical innocent looks. Lavi widened his eye further in incredulity. "What do you mean?"

_Well, two could play at this game. Or in this case, three._ She allowed a sudden, dejected smile to grace her face. "Crap," she pouted, features perfectly straight and serious. "I really suck at poker." She paused for a bit and fiddled sadly with the cards on the bed. "How much do I owe you guys?"

True to her prediction, Lavi and Allen brightened. "Aw Evans, what's money between friends? Besides, we're still underaged. I'll let you make payment in some other form," Lavi offered generously.

Her brow quirked in suspicion. "Really? That's nice of you guys. How do we do this, then?"

Allen smiled a toothy grin, looking for all the world like the innocent little boy he should have been. "Well... you lost seven games, so how about we ask you seven questions?"

"And none of that out-of-bounds business," Lavi added hastily.

_Bingo._ Her temper started to rise; she struggled to keep it in check. She surveyed them coolly. "I can't believe you guys," she said calmly.

Allen screwed up his face in mock confusion. "Whaaat?"

"Yeah," Lavi chimed in. "we've no idea what you're talking about."

That blatant denial, more than anything, was what set her off- she'd inherited her father's intolerance for lies. "Why can't you just admit it?" she snapped. "You guys hustled me just to get me to answer your stupid questions."

Allen stiffened; his gray eyes took on a sheepish look. Lavi, on the contrary, relaxed. "Okay," he said easily. "So can we start now?"

"Hell, no!"

"Oh, come on. It's just a few questions..." he wheedled.

"This is not about the questions!"

Lavi did not relent. "Okay, how about this? You get to use that out-of-bounds thing if you want."

Evans glared at him. "_I said,_ this is not about the questions. This is about the fact that you cheated me into answering them. "

Lavi started to look annoyed. "And I _said, _it's just a few questions! You're being overly-dramatic."

"Excuse me? You're not the one who just got hustled and lied to!" She narrowed her eyes accusingly. "I expected better from you guys. I actually trusted you. I thought we were _friends. _What's money between _friends, _huh?"

Lavi barked a short laugh. "Trust? Are you seriously talking about trust?" He shook his head disbelievingly. "You are the last person who's qualified to talk about that."

She bristled. "What the hell?!" Her voice started to rise.

Allen tried to cut in. "Guys," he said apprehensively. "It's just poker. Let's just forget all this and go get something to eat."

Lavi and Evans ignored him. "Go on," she taunted. "Tell me exactly how I don't deserve to talk about trust."

Lavi's gaze hardened. "Because you're a liar, Evans. It's obvious that you don't trust us- in fact, far from it. You keep everything from us- your past, your actions- heck, even your real name. "

His voice started to rise as he talked. "You let Leverrier and Link call you by your first name, yet we're not even qualified to do that? For Christ's sake, Evans, we call you by your last name! We hardly know anything about you because you don't let us. We don't know what you do here. Why Komui refuses to send you on missions. Why you have two Innocence fragments. We don't even know your favourite colour! You act so sporadically with us- cool and aloof one moment, all friendly and chummy the next. And you seriously expect us to believe you trust us, and treat us as friends?" He snorted. "Bullshit."

Somehow, she hadn't expected him to take her at face value. She had paled considerably during his tirade, but she refused to show any of the emotions roiling within her. Lenalee placed a placating hand on her arm and opened her mouth to intervene, but Evans shook it off and steam-rollered over her.

"Trust." She let out a sardonic laugh, and looked Lavi over appraisingly, emotionlessly. "I have in front of me a Bookman who's lecturing about trust. Pot calling the kettle black, much?"

The tension in the room was thick enough to cut; it pervaded every nook and cranny of the ward. Miranda looked almost scared; Allen and Lenalee, apprehensive. Kanda, of course, merely looked disinterested.

"How about you tell us your past, Lavi?" Evans challenged. "Your family, your Bookman duties- heck, even your real name?" she mimicked him. She stared at him evenly. "You're such a hypocrite, _Lavi_."

Lavi looked shaken, and ran a quivering hand over his hair. Silence reigned for a while, before he finally chose to speak. "You know as well as anyone that keeping secrets is part and parcel of my job," he said quietly, looking down at his hands. "I'm not supposed to portray my true emotions. I'm not supposed to get attached. I'm not supposed to get involved, to form lasting bonds, to do anything that will hinder my job to observe and record everything objectively. You know that." He looked up and ran his gaze over everyone in the room tiredly, pleadingly. "It's my job," he repeated.

Unexpectedly, the tables had turned- instead of accusing Evans, Lavi had turned to defending himself. Evans felt the fight go out of her; she deflated, her shoulders sagging. "Why can't I have a reason for acting the way I did as well?" she asked softly, directing her question to no one in particular.

The room fell silent; awkwardly so. She heaved a miniscule sigh and slipped off the bed, walking sedately to the door. No one else moved. As she turned the knob, her head turned back and she opened her mouth to say something. She changed her mind, shutting her mouth abruptly, and left the room quietly. The door closed shut with a muted click, and Lavi turned to look at everyone else, at a loss for words.

***

Lavi rubbed his ear ruefully and winced. Lenalee had given both Allen and him a good telling off; him more so, since he was the mastermind and all. And then both Allen and Lenalee ganged up together to appoint him as their representative to go apologise to Evans.

So there he was, skulking around the passageway that led to Training Hall 1. He knew, instinctively or otherwise, that she was probably in there. It didn't stop him from looking everywhere else first, just to delay things.

He sulked. He _obviously_ didn't want to apologise to her; in fact, he still felt justified in his tirade. She _had_ lied when she said she trusted them. She must have had- there was no other explanation for her secrecy. She simply hadn't trusted them enough to let them in on her secrets. And now he had no choice, anyway, because both Allen and Lenalee _just so happened_ to get summoned for a mission.

Still, he felt a tinge of regret over his words. He shouldn't have let it all out like that; shouldn't have been quite so brutal. Sure, he genuinely felt what he said, but _still_, she was a girl. He had prided himself on being a gentleman, no matter how... leery... he appeared at times. He sighed and shifted his forehead band down to his neck, shaking his hair out messily. Still, she shouldn't have retaliated quite so nastily. He frowned. That had been awkward.

And what about that weird question she'd asked near the end? She'd sounded so melancholy that he'd almost wanted to take her into his arms. Key word being _almost_. She'd probably snap at him if he did that. Come to think of it, he was probably going to get ripped into if he tried to apologise. That, or she'd treat him like air. Oh Gods, there was still time to turn back...

_No,_ he told himself sternly. _Be a man. _She was just a skinny little girl anyway, right? What was there to be afraid of?

He straightened up, nodded in resolve and began to stride down the hallway. Nearing the doors, however, he slowed down, hearing voices. He put one ear to the doors curiously.

"... can't you just listen? For God's sake, stop invoking already."

Komui, with a rare note of annoyance in his voice. Only Evans could get Komui this riled up.

Obviously, Evans had ignored him. Komui spoke up again. "Listen, Evans. You're exhausted. You've been training 24/7 for the past few days, you just came back from that mission, and instead of resting, you're back here training again. Don't say I didn't warn you- this constant invoking is seriously using up your life-force."

A heartbeat of silence- then Evans' wry, sardonic voice. "I'm sorry. Did I look like I cared?"

He heard Komui give a resigned sigh. "What am I to do with you?" the older man asked plaintively.

Evans remained silent.

"Stop invoking this instant," Komui commanded.

"Make me."

"If that's what it takes, Evans, then by God I will. So stop invoking. Now." Was it just his ears, or did he hear Komui stomping his foot?

A long silence ensued. Finally, Komui's footsteps sounded towards the doors; evidently, Evans had finally listened. Lavi leapt back from the door swiftly, hid behind a corner and began walking out from it calmly just in time to meet Komui halfway.

"Hey Komui," Lavi greeted. The older man simply looked at him, nodded in acknowledgement and hurried off, looking thoroughly exhausted and harassed. Now filled with curiosity, Lavi reached out to push the door back open.

He was just in time to see her fall.

In slow-motion, her eyes fluttered shut and her knees gave out beneath her, causing her to collapse onto the ground with a dull thud. Dust motes flurried around her from the impact, and the forward momentum leaned her upper body dangerously forward. For a moment, she did nothing to stop it; only at the last millisecond did she bring her arms slightly forward to break her fall.

He jogged quickly to her side, dimly registering the speed at which her cuts and bruises were starting to heal. They were literally closing and healing before his very eyes. "Are you alright?" He leant over her, casting his shadow on her.

Her hands clenched into fists; her knuckles tightened, whitened, and she let out a barely audible groan. "Fuck off, Lavi," she hissed vehemently.

"That's not very nice," Lavi pouted. "I came here to apologise." When she didn't respond, he added: "For earlier." Just in case she, by some miracle, had cleanly forgotten about it. (Fat chance, he knew.)

She remained silent, her eyes squeezed shut. Lavi raised a brow in confusion. This was a strange mix of the two scenarios he had expected- first she swears at him, and then she ignores him? He prodded her warily on the shoulder; she recoiled, shrinking back. Only then did he notice she was trembling, her face paling by the second.

"Hey, are you alright?" He made to put his hand on her shoulder, but he'd barely made contact when she flung herself away from his touch, quivering all over.

"I said, _fuck off. _Leave. Get lost."

Her tone was more vehement than ever; she looked up at him with a strange, feral intensity in her eyes. Sweat beaded on her brow as it furrowed.

He quirked his brow up higher. While he was a little hurt by her bluntness, he wasn't exactly affected; Kanda had to put up with him for years, after all. One tended to get used to this kind of language. "Whoa," he said mildly. "Mean, much?"

Her eyes closed again and she gritted her teeth. "_Please_," she bit out. Her voice cracked in the middle of the word, a particularly violent tremor racking her body. She lifted an arm to wind it around her upper torso, tightening it as another tremor caused her to nearly lose her balance.

He was starting to get concerned. "Is something wrong?" He reached out to shake her shoulder gently.

He felt her breath hitch before she snapped her head back to glare hatefully at him. "Which part of _get lost_ do you not understand, you fucking retard?"

He winced instinctively, but disregarded her words; he had just realised that the intense emotion in her eyes was more like _desperation. _He leaned closer to her, making sure to capture her gaze with his. "I know something is wrong," he stated calmly, "and it's obvious you're trying to get me out of here because of it. Guess what? I'm not going anywhere until you tell me." He looked firmly into her eyes so she knew he meant his words. "So you'd better tell me quick."

She stared back at him, the desperation in her eyes gradually fading to resignation. "I'm about to lose control of my Innocence soon." The words tugged reluctantly from her lips in a very small voice; he had to strain to hear them. "So you'll do good to leave. Now."

If she thought he was going to run for the hills when he heard that, she had another think coming. Little shocked him- he was Bookman, after all. And no way would he leave her alone in that condition; he just couldn't bring himself to do leave another like that, a reaction he had first found himself having during the Ark incident. "Okay," he said easily. "And so?"

She blinked, surprised, when another violent tremor caused her to lose her balance and topple over onto the ground. "_Fuck_," she hissed, before struggling to get up, stumbling over all four of her limbs before she managed to right herself. Lavi looked on, surprised, as she took a deep breath, mustering all her strength, and tried to sprint her way up the stairs, onto the gallery and towards the Operations box.

In the condition she was in, it was hardly surprising that he caught up with her easily.

***

Of all the people to come barging in when she was vulnerable? Lavi _just_ had to be the one. Komui had been somewhat right, she reflected dully. She really should have stopped invoking long before. Yet, of all times, her Innocence just had to choose this one to be responsible. She seriously didn't know whether to laugh or cry; God just loved her, didn't he?

Somehow, she wasn't exactly registering the seriousness of the situation. Right about now, while cradling her stinging right palm to her chest, her other hand around her torso, she should be panicking like crazy. Screaming, sobbing, fainting- whatever the usual panic attacks consisted of- she should be doing them. But she wasn't.

Maybe it had something to do with the annoying presence of a certain, bloody _stubborn_ red-haired idiot loping gracefully alongside her.

She had been trying to make her way to the Ops box, to lock herself in, hoping the reinforced glass would help in salvaging at least _part_ of the HQ. She wouldn't want Komui to yell at her; if he survived, that is.

Her hand stretched out to meet the cool surface of the door of the booth; she fumbled for the doorknob, twisted it open, fell inwards and then slammed and locked the door with a resounding click before allowing herself to relax, her back against the door.

Only for a brief second, though, because in the next moment, a rap was heard at the door. She stifled a groan and turned her head towards the door. "You're nuts!" she yelled. "Get the hell lost!"

He rattled the doorknob. "Why did you lock the door? Let me in!"

She fought the wave of hysteria that threatened to overcome her as the pain pierced once more through her palm, like a stigma, and then travelled along the rest of her body in a hot, gut-wrenching wave. "You have a death-wish," she breathed, and let out a bitter laugh. "I'm about to lose control and you're asking to be let in. My God, I'm with a lunatic. We're all in danger, and I'm stuck with a raving lunatic."

"Hey," he protested. "Maybe I can help and we all won't have to die. Though I don't exactly understand why we'll die, anyway. You don't look like you've losing control, like a Fallen One."

Distracted by the unfamiliar term, she was just about to open her mouth to ask what a Fallen One was, when the pain hit her again, and a gasp emerged instead. She struggled to word a different sentence. "Just... just get out of here." The words came out garbled; something about her throat tightened painfully. The panic had started to set in. She gripped her fists tight to control the shudders running through her- to no avail.

He only rattled the doorknob further.

"Please-just-leave-fuck--please-please-please," she chanted desperately, her eyes falling shut.

"Relax, and listen to me!"

"Please-God-make-him-leave-God-please-"

"Breathe in," he commanded authoritatively.

Unthinkingly, her mind in a panicked whirl, she obeyed, her shoulders heaving, though sporadically; the tremors had something to do with that.

"Then out,"

She listened, even though she couldn't see the point of it.

"In... and out," he repeated in the most soothing tone he could muster, over and over again until he could see that she had regained some semblance of rhythm. She had a look of intense concentration on her face; he could tell she was listening hard to his words. "Okay, now imagine something soothing," he instructed softly. He couldn't resist a cheeky quip: "My face, if you like. I certainly don't mind."

Her left eye snapped open to glare at him. He held his hands up in surrender and couldn't help chuckling. "Okay, okay."

Her eyelid fell shut once more.

"Imagine... a clearing in the forest.... as green as my sexy eyes..." -she gave a tiny, strained smile at that one- "with a brook bubbling peacefully in the background..."

Miraculously, the pseudo-psychiatric thing he had pulled out of his ass seemed to be working. She was calming down; he could see that, though it was taking time. Her tremors were getting far and few between, and she was regaining some of her colour. He waited until her breathing evened out completely before he stopped mimicking the "peaceful bubbling" of his imaginary brook.

She opened her eyes slowly. "Better?" Lavi smiled down at her through the little window in the door. She nodded hesitantly and brought her weight back onto her legs before dragging herself up using the doorknob. She unlocked and opened the door, took one wobbly step and stumbled; reflexively, he held his arms out to steady her.

Alarmed, she instinctively shoved his arms away, and thumped ungracefully onto the ground. She might have calmed down, but she was still dangerous- to herself, to everyone else around her. She couldn't help but wish Komui had granted her permission for the sedatives- see what trouble she almost got into this time? Even her position as most valuable weapon probably wouldn't save her from the guilty charge of demolishment of the Order HQ.

She heaved a sigh, and all at once, the exhaustion hit her; it always did, after every episode. Her eyelids suddenly weighed a ton, and her sight began to waver. She heard, rather than saw Lavi crouch down beside her. Black started to creep in from the edges of her vision.

"You alright?"

"Yeah..." she mumbled, and stifled a yawn. "I'm blacking out a bit, that's all."

"_That's all?!_ Crap, you aren't having a heart attack or anything, are you?"

She snorted softly, eyes still wide and unseeing. "Don't be dumb. Of course not."

"How can you be sure?" He sounded indignant- she could imagine that expression of his, in her mind's eye.

"I'm not short of breath, I don't feel nauseous, I'm not dizzy, I don't have a cough, I don't feel anxious and I don't have heart palpitations. My chest doesn't even hurt."

He was stunned for a while before he recovered swiftly. "Wow. Sounds like you know a lot."

"I should." She couldn't quite resist a yawn this time. Part of her mind was still alert; the other part, however, was registering her physical and cellular exhaustion, and was trying to shut her down. She yawned widely again, allowed herself to slump to the ground. She was dimly aware that the ground felt refreshingly cool against her cheek. "I went to medical school, after all."

"Really?"

His response sank slowly into her mush of a brain, but she couldn't quite bring herself to reply; her muscles were strangely slack. "I don't have a favourite colour," she breathed- it came out as an incomprehensible mumble. Wow, she wasn't making sense, even to herself.

"What?"

And then she was out like a light.

-

**a/n: **...and no, the mystery that is Syrona Evans' Innocence(s) _isn't_ solved yet. Not by far- the secrecy's gonna stay for a while yet XP

And yes, Evans swears.

I'm somewhat surprised that no one mentioned the cross-manga reference in the previous chapter, but I think you guys must've caught it, all the same.

Also, I've added some sort of _thing_ to my profile so you guys could get a more realistic estimate of updates, since they mightn't be as regular as before. Fuss-free method of feedback: mention it in a review or PM if  
a) It doesn't help nuts.  
b) It pisses you off, and you hate it and want it removed _now _'cause it hurts your eyes just looking at it.

(Preferable the former, of course.)

Fallende: Aww, thanks for the review =) And yep- I read the chapters over and eh, got your point X( Thanks for pointing that out. Cupcakes for you!

Not to worry, cupcakes for Aviantei and Glon Morski too! You guys rock =D

REVIEW, everybody! When I'm happy, I tend to write faster XP


	13. Revelation

**.revelation.**

**-**

She opened her eyes, once more, to blinding white.

"You're awake!" A familiar voice yelled boisterously. She turned her head slightly to see a grinning Lavi, waving happily in her face, and promptly groaned, turned the opposite direction and hefted the covers over her face.

"This is getting really old," she groaned.

An insistent hand tugged at the sheets enveloping her. "Hey, you alright?"

She frowned and poked her head out. "That's getting really old too. How many times have you asked me that?"

"I dunno," Lavi said cheerfully. "Don't really care, either. " He peered closely at her. "Wow, you really look well-rested."

She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I was knocked out for a few days, Lavi. Looking well-rested usually comes with the territory."

He looked thoroughly confused. "Few days?"

"Yes," she said slowly, giving him a strange look. "Did you mysteriously become hard of hearing?"

He blinked. "No, I meant, what do you mean by a few days? Everything happened only yesterday."

The strange look intensified. "_Yesterday?_"

"Yup," he confirmed. "And you still haven't forgiven me yet. Lenalee's going to give me hell when she comes back."

"_Yesterday?_"

"What, did you mysteriously become hard of hearing?" he mocked cheekily. "Yes, yesterday. Why is that so shocking?"

Her frown deepened. "Usually, I get knocked out for a good four days or so after every episode," she murmured, in deep thought.

"Say what?"

She looked up at him, suddenly remembering his presence."Uh, nothing."

He seemed to contemplate something before he opened his mouth to voice his thoughts: "So... was that what happened during our last mission together? You were losing control?"

_Lie_.

"I, uh...."

Her mind went blank. Totally, utterly blank.

"I mean..."

He looked at her intently. "It's either a yes or a no," he observed. "Why the struggle?" He cocked his head curiously at her.

She could've smacked him for that. "It's not that simple," she snapped. "Of all people, you should know how blurred lines that distinct one from another can be."

He leaned back on his chair, folded his arms behind his head and heaved a gusty sigh. "All the more people shouldn't complicate matters. If it's a yes, it's a yes. If it's a no, then it means no. What can be simpler than telling the truth?"

-

"_Always tell the truth, Ron, Lex. Never lie- it's a mark of respect for the other person that you tell it as it is. There is nothing simpler, nothing more basic than that."_

_They look up at the towering figure before them, awe-inspiring in his military uniform, and nod obediently. "Yes, Father."_

_-_

It was a simple enough question. "Were you losing control of your Innocence?" And sure enough, that was the desperate lie she had fed Lavi in a bid to get him out of the hall. Now, rational and in a normal state of mind... should she lie? Tell the truth?

Lying would be infinitely more convenient for them all- for Lavi, for her, for the Order. Lying would protect the oath of secrecy the Order had her take. The oath that her Innocence mandated. Telling the truth would lead to Lavi uncovering more than she ever wanted him to. The choice was clear. At least, it should have been.

But she couldn't bring herself to lie.

_Never lie. That is the one promise I ask of you._

But there was so much at stake...?

_Yes, Father._

"No."

"What?" Lavi said, scrunching his face up in confusion. "Did you say something? I didn't hear it, say it again!"

She blinked at him guilelessly. "Did I say anything?" she asked, and blinked her eyes innocently. In turn, he narrowed his.

"Don't think I'm going to let you off," he warned with lips quirked up at one side. "I'm going to get it out of you one way or another, I swear."

She shot him a haughty look. "Does that mean you don't want me to forgive you? That you want to face Lenalee's wrath after she finds out you didn't apologise?"

He widened his eye. "You wouldn't. I apologised! Several times!"

_Distraction- success._

She regarded him craftily. "You think she'll believe me, or you?"

He scowled comically. "So, what's it going to be? Are you going to forgive me, or are you going to forgive me?" He tapped her neatly on her forehead, just between her eyes.

She pursed her lips. Did he think that they were all chummy-chummy just because he had the misfortune to witness her near-lapse? "Go away," she muttered.

"Not going to happen, hun."

"Go away, _please_."

He shook his head of red hair firmly. "Not unless you forgive me. Otherwise, Lenalee's going to be really upset."

"Hmph," she grumbled. "You sure care a lot about Lenalee, huh."

Curiously, his face blanked out before resuming his usual cheeky expression. "Is someone jealous?" he drawled, and shot her a lascivious wink.

She stared at him blankly.

After a few seconds, he pulled on a pout. "Fine," he muttered, eye going big and wide like a puppy-dog's. "Ignore me. See if I care."

Inexplicably, she burst out laughing.

"I hear laughter," Another familiar voice called out tiredly; the next moment, Lenalee and Allen walked in. Lavi let out a muffled squeak, put on a look of consternation and hurried to the other side of Evans' bed, further from the door.

"I apologised, I swear," he called out meekly from behind the bed.

"Lavi? Evans? What are you guys doing here?" Allen asked, confused. Evans looked at him and saw the exhaustion streaked over his face. Lenalee was no better off; her Exorcist uniform was similarly worn.

"Did your mission go alright?" Evans asked carefully, earning herself a frown from the both of them.

"Depends on what you mean by 'alright'," Allen declared before sitting down on the bed beside Evans.

"Akuma attack?" she guessed.

Lavi came out slowly from his hiding place, realisation dawning onto his face. "Wait, you guys weren't coming after me?"

Right on cue, the Head Nurse bustled in. "Lenalee, Allen, let me check you over. Komui left specific instructions not to let any scratch go untreated. Seriously, you workaholics are too much. Why can't you just take care of yourselves and not let others worry about you? Great, Lavi's here too. Don't tell me you got injured as well! You look fine- that's good, you can help me out here. Get the aid box- where has Grace gone too, seriously? That girl's –" she cut herself off abruptly when she caught sight of Evans, sitting up in bed and looking thoroughly bored.

Evans waggled her fingers at the surprised Head Nurse. "Hi."

The Head Nurse blinked. "Evans. You're awake?"

The girl shrugged, and sent the Head Nurse a warning glance. "Apparently so."

With reluctance, the Head Nurse broke her stare away. "Lenalee," she forced out with some effort. "Let me check you over first."

As she tended to Lenalee's injuries, Lavi had flung himself onto the bed Allen had been sitting on, bouncing the younger boy off. He settled for sitting at the foot of Evan's bed.

"So what happened?" Lavi asked.

Allen deepened his frown. "I'm not too sure either." He paused, and scratched his white head awkwardly. "We were on our way back to HQ- the mission was a false alarm- when a swarm of Akuma swarmed past us. Even though we gave chase, they refused to get distracted, and some of them broke away to engage us. We still lost them in the end." He looked up at both Lavi and Evans unhappily. "I'm worried," he said matter-of-factly. "I think the Earl is planning something."

Lavi raised his brow. "Oh, that's something new," he joked. Both Allen and Evans narrowed their eyes at him.

"What about you guys?" Allen asked curiously. "Why are you here? Did something happen?"

Evans sent a _shut-up-if-you-know-what's-good-for-you_ glance at Lavi, but as usual, he remained oblivious. "Oh," he chimed happily, "I went to Evans to apologise yesterday, but I found her-"

"_Lavi_," Evans stressed warningly.

With perfect timing, Komui burst in, door banging off the wall with a loud thud. Evans had never been more relieved to see him.

"Lenalee! Are you alright? I'm sorry I came only now, I got held up-"

Evans automatically tuned out, leaned back into her pillows and stared up at the ceiling.

_I couldn't lie._

Shesqueezed her eyes shut, so tightly that spots started to dance behind her eyelids. Would Lavi remember what she had said in reply? Would not being able to tell a lie haunt her, catch up with her in the future? She knew she was supposed to be worried about this, but frankly speaking, she couldn't be too fussed about it. Instead... should she be concerned about how soon she woke up?

She snuck a quick peek at the Head Nurse, who was trying to tend to Allen's injuries while he was listening intently to something Komui was saying, and then absently shifted her gaze to everyone in turn.

"... missions for everyone."

Her head snapped back to Komui. Did he really say what she thought he said?

"I'm really sorry, but these just came in, and they're urgent-"

"Ai, stop repeating yourself, Komui," Lavi yawned, stretching himself languidly before rising from his seat. "It's our job, after all."

"But Allen and Lenalee just came back from a mission," Komui pointed out, pouting. "Lenalee, especially, should be resting-"

Lenalee interrupted hastily, "I'm fine, Brother, honestly. Let's just go for the briefings now." Turning to Evans, she added: "Coming?"

Much to Evans' chagrin, Komui shot her a Look. "No, stay here, Evans. I'll need to talk to you later."

Apparently, _missions for everyone_ didn't include her at all. Evans glared at Komui and opened her mouth to protest; in turn, Komui, with expression alone, warned her not to make a fuss. For Lenalee's sake alone, she kept her mouth shut- she didn't want Lenalee to have to be divided between Komui and her- but as soon as they left the ward, however, Evans couldn't help herself- she flung the medic tray clear across the room, sending it crashing onto the wall opposite.

"Fuck," she breathed, her chest heaving, before she shoved her sheets aside and stomped out of the room.

***

She pushed the door ajar, and slipped through it into the dark library. Her bare feet padded silently on the carpet- she hadn't thought to wear shoes before she stomped out like that- and she made her way to the window-seat, the same one Lavi and her shared that day, many weeks ago.

The deep red of the seat was still as vibrant as she remembered; the seat still as comfortable. When Lavi showed her this place back then, she'd more or less just entered the Order HQ. The Order had given her purpose; allowed room for hope. When she had stepped into the Order, she had felt like she had been found.

Yet, how was she to fulfil her purpose, just sitting around on her ass doing nothing? How was she supposed to redeem herself?

She sighed and placed her palm flat on the cool glass surface. It was raining outside, making the scenery outside difficult to see. She leaned closer to the window, her breath fogging up the surface. When would her time come?

The door slammed open, startling Evans, who jerked in her seat with a squeak. Kanda stood in the doorway- tall, soaked and glowering. Evans placed a hand over her heart. "You startled me."

"Where's Komui?" Kanda demanded rudely.

Evans gave him a strange look. "Isn't this the wrong place to be looking for Komui?"

"I went to his office earlier and he wasn't there. Just fucking answer the question already!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "No need to be so rude. Komui stopped by the infirmary earlier, but he should be back in the office, briefing Lenalee, Allen and Lavi for missions."

Kanda gave a tiny, involuntary shudder as he heard the last two names, and Evans stifled a laugh. Raising her brow, she added coolly, "I'm thinking you don't particularly want to stop by his office just yet."

He sneered at her. "You thought right."

Her lips quirked ever so slightly, and she turned her head towards the window, fully expecting Kanda to storm back out the door. She certainly didn't expect him to stride over to her, still dripping on the carpet. She didn't turn her head back; yet, she felt his towering presence behind her all the same. She shifted in her seat uneasily.

It was a while before he finally spoke. "You called me by my Innocence the first time we met." He levelled a stare evenly at Evans. "From what I'm hearing from the rumour mills here, you also called Lenalee and the others by the name of their Innocence fragments as well. How?"

She mentally gulped. Trust Kanda to remember minor details like that. "I just knew," she said in all seriousness, half-turning her head around. "Maybe I'm psychic."

Kanda snorted. "Yeah right, and I'm bloomin' gay."

She cocked her head curiously at him. "I don't know. Are you?"

A growl started to rise in Kanda's throat, and Evans rolled her eyes. "Christ, I'm only joking." She looked up at him glumly. "You don't have to tell me to shut the fuck up. I know." She started to fiddle with her hands in her lap dolefully, while Kanda snorted and looked away.

A period of silence passed, before Evans looked up again. "I think the briefings should be over by now," she told Kanda. "You can go find Komui."

To her utmost surprise, he sent a considering glance her way, before lowering himself onto the window-seat beside her. "You know, you're really bad at it."

She blinked at him. "What?"

"You're really bad at keeping people away from you," he stated flatly. He looked intently at her. "You were trying, weren't you? To isolate yourself, to not get involved. Well, you failed. You're getting attached."

She couldn't help but give a small smile. "You would know, wouldn't you? You're the resident expert in keeping people away."

He shifted his gaze from her, to the blurred view beyond the window. "I suppose I can't blame you," he said aloofly. "People more determined than you have failed."

"You mean Lavi?"

Kanda remained silent. She frowned at him. "What do you mean, more determined? I'll have you know that I can be very determined when I put my mind to it!"

He made no response, and Evans squinted closer at him. His eyes were shut tight, and his breathing was even. Was he about to fall asleep? Evans shot him a dirty glare before crossing her arms petulantly and settling back against the cushions.

_I'm losing it. _She sighed once more. _Even Kanda can tell. _She leaned her forehead on the window until she could take it no longer.

"Can't you just go find Komui already?" she sniped at Kanda, raising her voice in case he was asleep. "You're soaking the cushions- it's bloody uncomfortable. Go away!"

He opened one eye, allowed the evillest, laziest smirk to grace his face before he leaned closer... and shook his wet hair all over her.

Shocked, she shrieked, closed her eyes and flailed out blindly at Kanda. There was a tremendous crash of breaking glass, a shout of surprise, and a grip tightened painfully around her arm. Before she knew it, she was airborne.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened- she'd accidentally flung him out the window, and Kanda, that bastard, managed to grab her on his way out.

She opened her eyes to look at Kanda in the face. Kanda, with his eyes closed, the surprise fading from his face, giving way to calm, as well as something akin to... anticipation?

_Well, fuck that._ She didn't know what Kanda was thinking, but hell if she'd let things go like this. She gripped his arms hard and invoked her winged Innocence, interrupting their freefall down to God-Know-Where. They jerked abruptly in mid-air, and his dark eyes fluttered open. With immense difficulty, she managed to sustain their height; her wings were only used to carrying her weight.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? Let go!"

Evans gaped at Kanda.

"I said, let go!" He began to struggle in her weak grip, sending them lurching wildly in the air.

"What the hell! Stop that! Are you fucking nuts?" she shouted at him. Half her words were whipped away from her mouth by the wind; still, she was sure Kanda had heard her. It didn't stop Kanda from attempting to pry himself from her hold, however; if anything, he struggled harder. Her wings flapped furiously in a bid to keep them in the air, but to no avail- they were still descending, and fast. Wide-eyed with horror, she saw the forest training grounds rise up to meet them.

She snapped her eyes closed and braced herself for the impact. Not a moment too soon, it came, jarring all her bones, rattling all the teeth in her mouth. Her body landed hard onto Kanda's, and she gasped with the pain.

"Fuck," she groaned, and opened an eye to look down at Kanda. "Why did you have to go do that for, you fucking moron?"

To her disbelief, the idiot still had his eyes closed. The impact of the fall should have injured him seriously, not to mention the secondary impact of her body landing on his. Even Evans was very much feeling the pain.... _shit_. Kanda couldn't be dead, could he?

"Kanda," she said as loudly and clearly as her sore ribs and aching throat could manage, not betraying any hint of her panic. He gave no response, save for his harsh breathing. She managed to wheeze a tinny sigh of relief. "Kanda!"

Finally, he shifted slightly, and his eyes opened. A curious, unfamiliar emotion filtered into the obsidian of his eyes as he took in his surroundings.

"As I was _saying, _Kanda, you are a fucking _moron_. Why the hell did you do something that random for? Do you want to _die_? Even so, you didn't have to drag me with you! I don't want to die like this!" Evans demanded.

Kanda merely looked at her strangely, as if she were behind a thick veil of fog. As that peculiar emotion strengthened, though, his gaze became clearer, sharper. "Get the fuck off me," he snarled hoarsely.

"I would if I could," Evans snapped. "Unfortunately, I'm in a fuckload of pain right now, so shut the hell up and stop fidgeting!"

"It's your own fault," Kanda shot back. "You're fucking heavy- gravity just did its job."

Evans opened her mouth to retort- that bastard was the one who started all this- but abruptly froze as she felt something hard poke her in her side. Ignoring all jolts of pain, she shoved herself off him, and onto the ground. Kanda blinked- once, twice- before pulling his upper half up.

It was then that Evans realised that whatever that poked her was of a peculiar shape. She looked to Kanda's left hip- yes, Mugen was still there. So what was it that she had just felt? She frowned down at the offending object. "What's that?" she pointed.

Kanda looked down at where she was pointing, but ignored her.

She made a grab for it; he attempted to block her, but her hand dodged around it, and despite her protesting muscles, managed to haul it out of his robes.

It was a sword in its sheath; much smaller than Mugen, but a sword all the same. She squinted down at the foreign characters inscribed onto the sheath. Presumably, they were Japanese.

Seeing the sword in her hand, she felt something go out of her. Everything came together- why he had protested, the anticipation she saw on his face- the curious emotion in his eyes had been _disappointment_; Kanda genuinely couldn't care less if he died. "Why are you carrying this around?" she asked quietly.

Kanda turned to look at her with some measure of surprise. "You know what this is?" His tone was reserved; guarded.

Evans nodded. "My father told me stories. He knew people who had encountered samurai. This is a suicide sword, isn't it? A sword to be carried by samurai, along with their own katana. In case they fell into enemy hands, or were to suffer dishonour, they had to use this sword to commit suicide by disembowelment." She looked up at Kanda. "My father mentioned the Japanese term, but I forgot."

"It's seppuku," he muttered. "Or hara-kiri."

She allowed herself a wry smile. "Yeah, something like that." A pause, where she looked back down at the sword in her hands. "You do realise that it's useless," she added softly. "Without a second, you'll heal too fast to die. Even so, no one here would be willing to act as your second."

Kanda remained ominously silent. Evans could almost see the storm brewing on his face; over what, she had no clue. She tried another approach.

"Sometimes, you just feel so jaded," she mused. "You're sick and tired of everything, and you just want to end it all right here, right now." She sneaked a peek out of the corner of her left eye- Kanda appeared to be listening, albeit impatiently. "But you can't. You can't just leave things like this. You have things to do, people depending on you. You have your ultimate goal in mind, one on which you swore your life to fulfil." Leaving the sword in her lap, she leant back on her hands. "Life sucks, doesn't it?"

Kanda remained quiet, but on his face swirled a peculiar mosaic of emotions. Finally, he _cheh_-ed once, swiped the sword from her lap, and stood up to go, brushing the twigs and leaves from his body. Without looking at Evans once, he turned and strode back towards the Order, leaving her to reflect upon his retreating figure.

-

**a/n: **First off- **I'm so unbelievably ashamed and sorry **that I took so long to update. I won't give excuses- there probably aren't any in the world that can justify such a long absence, save death or mortal injury. So for those of you who _had_ been reading this, once again, I'm so sorry X( Please _please _keep in mind that this was seriously a one-off thing- updates will definitely be quicker than this.

For those of you who've been checking back, and are reading this now- I give you my unmeasurable gratitude, for the faith.

Much thanks to **glon morski**, **22894 iambryce**, **Reanie Campal**, **Fallende **and **aviantei** , whose reviews kept me going throughout this difficult period.

On the chapter- I didn't make the thing about the smaller sword up, it's really true. It doesn't feature in Wikipedia, though, but I got everything else about the ritual there. Search 'seppuku' on the site for more information.

I'm still feeling incredibly bad about the ridiculously late update, so the next chapter will come predictably soon, to make up for this one. Also, I'm experimenting with a new writing style- I think you guys might like it. Expect it to feature a couple of chapters later =)

Much, much love. As always, please R&R!


	14. Chosen

**.chosen.**

-

When she opened the door, Komui was in the infirmary, waiting for her. He raised a brow at her bedraggled appearance- twigs and leaves in her hair, ripped clothes, streaks of blood and dirt all over her body, dripping wet from the rain, and limping like her life depended on it.

"Should I even ask?"

"No," she grumbled. "But you might want to send someone to repair that broken window in the library."

Komui gaped at her for a bit, before squeezing his eyes shut and massaging his temples. "You're right, I shouldn't ask about that," he muttered, before opening his eyes to look at her again. "I need to talk to you. Have you heard about Allen and Lenalee's latest mission?"

Evans nodded.

"It's been reported to the Grand Generals," he continued. "They're worried, as well. They think that the Earl may be moving up his plans, but we still have no inkling of what they are. The Grand Generals will be summoning the Generals back for a meeting, and they requested for you to sit in. I'll call for you when the Generals all arrive."

Evans grimaced. "Does that mean I'm supposed to mope around every day until they come back? I don't get to go on missions?"

Komui sighed. "Evans," he stressed. "You don't understand the importance of your safety, do you? We can't afford for anything to happen to you."

Evans slumped onto a nearby bed. "All this waiting," she murmured. "It's killing me."

Unexpectedly, Komui sat down beside her. "I know." When she turned dull eyes to him, he rubbed his own tired eyes. "We all want this war to be over, Evans. I want all of you to be safe. I want to not have to worry for Lenalee every minute of the day." He turned his head to look down at her beside him, and his eyes softened. She looked so fragile, so _vulnerable_. How could his heart not go out to her?

"I know you feel restless here, not being able to help out on missions. But that's no reason to feel useless as well. You're doing us the greatest favour by just being here; by being safe."

She began to protest, but he cut her off soothingly. "Please be patient, Evans." He caught the line of her gaze, and stared into her blue eyes earnestly. "I swear, everything will be okay."

She stared at him doubtfully, and he couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, fine, everything will be over. For better or worse. That's what you want, isn't it?"

She chose not to reply, instead concentrating on how her fingers contrasted against the white of the sheets.

"Evans..." Komui hesitate, before continuing. "I know you're going to feel like there's nothing else to do but train, being left out of missions, but I don't want you to do that all day either. If you like...." he wavered once more, "if you like, you could help out here, in the infirmary. You heard the Head Nurse earlier, didn't you? They're shorthanded at the moment. And your medical knowledge- it can be put to good use here..."

"No." Her face changed entirely- colder, haughtier- and she pulled herself up, ramrod straight. "Never." Icy fury was etched in every syllable, and Komui couldn't help but wish he'd never brought up the subject.

"Forget I said anything," he said quickly, soothingly- he didn't think she still held that much emotion over the past- but apparently, she did. She kept quiet, but he could see the struggle playing over her face. Finally, she shut her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them to reveal a clear, calm blue. Komui knew he should feel pleased about her superb control over her emotions- after all, it equated to better control over her Innocence- but somehow, he just felt hapless, and more than a little worried.

"Evans," he began, but she cut him off.

"Anything else you need to talk to me about?" she said composedly as she rose from the bed. "Otherwise, I'm going off to train."

"I know about yesterday."

She froze on the way to the door, before swivelling around slowly. "What about yesterday?"

"You nearly activated it, didn't you? The golems in the hall were still operational," Komui stated calmly. "I heard everything. Lavi was there too, right?"

She visibly paled. "I swear, I didn't mean to do it."

He smiled wryly. "Of all the times, which were the ones you did mean?"

Her eyes were wide, haunted, scared. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be," he added hastily. "I observed something from this episode... did you notice how quickly you recovered this time?"

She nodded.

"I have a hypothesis I'd like to test out, but I'm afraid I'll have to carry out some experiments on you..."

She couldn't help but smile humourlessly. "Are you actually trying to ask for my permission?" She looked at him dully. "I've said this many times, and I'll say it again if I have to- I am the Order's, Komui. My life belongs to you. Do with it what you wish. I don't particularly care."

He sighed. "Somehow, I'm that much less impressed, and that much more worried, especially when I know your motives behind that, Evans." He regarded her with a frown. "Leave the past be, Evans. You can't blame yourself forever."

"Yes, I can."

He tried to reason with her for the umpteenth time. "Like you said, Evans, you didn't mean it."

She looked at him, her eyes a vacuum of emptiness and hopelessness. "The body count doesn't change, Komui, whether I mean it or not." She stared down at her feet miserably.

Komui tried and failed to reshape his expression into one of forced nonchalance. "You're trying so hard for the guilt, it's not even funny. You're not healing, are you?" He peered closer at her wounds.

She shook her head. "Didn't use my Innocence much."

"Good girl. Shall I call the Head Nurse?"

"No need," she muttered brusquely. "I'll be fine."

Komui looked her over consideringly before standing up as well. He dusted off his white coat and offered a change of clothes to Evans. "Go get changed, Evans. You look like hell." He managed a weak imitation of a smile. "After that, it's time for your weekly synchro check," he said. "Hevlaska's waiting."

***

Komui had gotten waylaid by Reever mid-route, leaving Evans to troop down to Hevlaska on her own, with specific instructions to meet him in the hallway where he would explain the experiments he had in mind, and possibly, start right there and then. She punched in the elevator access code and waited patiently for the elevator to descend to the deepest depths of the Order.

The elevator settled with a thud; Evans, as was routine, immediately checked for the presence of the Grand Generals. All five of them were present, cloaked in their usual robes of shadows and darkness.

"Grand Generals," she said respectfully, inclining her head slightly. "Syrona Evans reporting."

A voice, thin and ghostly, yet authoritative at its core, issued a reply. "Syrona Evans. You may proceed."

She nodded in response, took a deep breath and turned around to face the white, massive creature looming over her. "Hevlaska," she murmured, and felt a genuine smile break out over her features.

Hevlaska regarded her fondly. "Long time no see, Evans."

"Same here."

"The usual?"

Evans nodded. Hevlaska reached out a long, pale arm and wrapped it around Evans' body, just under her arms, lifting her up into the air. She extended another long, thinner tendril and placed the very point of it to Evans' forehead. Immediately, a light of the purest white emanated from the point of contact. Evans, accustomed to the process, didn't flinch one bit as Hevlaska closed her eyes and sifted about her Innocence.

Finally, Hevlaska opened her eyes and broke contact. The light instantly dissipated, leaving the dimness of the chamber, illuminated only by Hevlaska. She gave a nod of approval. "Nice improvement, Evans."

Evans arched a brow. "Really?"

"Really," Hevlaska confirmed. "89 percent, 78 percent, 54 percent. Not bad, I would say."

Evans tried to hide a smile of satisfaction. "That's nice," she said vaguely.

Hevlaska looked her over amusedly. "Well, that's that. Is that all, or are you going to stay a while this time?"

Evans considered Hevlaska's proposition for a couple of seconds before smiling and folding her legs beneath her gracefully to sit on the floor. She tugged the gloves off her hands while Hevlaska raised a tendril up and waved it around, pondering what to do. As if she had come to a conclusion, she reached within herself. When the tendril re-emerged, its very end was curled around a crystal fragment, glowing green. She dropped the Innocence lightly onto Evans' outstretched palm.

As soon as it landed on her bare palm, though, the glow flickered, and Evans' eyes flashed in alarm. "This Innocence fragment has had an accommodator," she breathed, looking up at Hevlaska in shock. The latter gestured for her to continue, and so she did, though the alarm didn't fade. She closed her eyes, breathed in deeply, and focused on the crystal in her hands.

At first, she felt only the dim coolness of the crystal, and the awkward angles and corners of it.

Then, in her mind's eye, the darkness lifted, and she was hurtling through a space as black-and-white as any other, the accompanying tunnel vision making her lightheaded. Suddenly, with an abruptness that startled her, she found herself peering down the deepest canyon, its depths stretching beyond the wildest expectations. The darkness beckoning from its depths was inexorable; it was calling out to her in strange, anguished persuasions.

And then she found herself falling through an endless space, hurtling through the air at a speed too fast for her mind to register. The freezing air stung her hands, her ears, her eyes, but the darkness beneath her seemed as distant as ever. As she twisted in the air like a broken doll, she caught sight of a wonky crescent moon above in the dark night sky, tinged with a bloodiness that was at once furious and heartrending. She stretched her fingertips out to the moon, only barely managing to grasp a cool, fervent night _wind_ that assaulted her senses, overloading them with regret, with rage, with sorrow, with grief, with _betrayal_.

And with the last emotion, she felt herself shudder in foreboding, right before a monstrous, skeletal claw grasped her around her middle, the accompanying _wind_ howling ferociously. An agonized cry rang out- "_I want to live!"_; she dimly registered the fact that the voice was a low baritone, and that it wasn't hers. Another voice- high-pitched, innocent, feminine- sounded: "You'll come home, won't you, Father?" and before she knew it, she surfaced with a shuddery gasp.

Unknowingly, during the episode, she had rocked forward onto her knees, shivering violently.

"What," she managed to gasp out weakly, looking up at a solemn Hevlaska, "was that?"

Hevlaska averted her eyes. "That," she murmured, "belonged to an Exorcist." She paused, filling the chamber with silence and foreboding, before finally continuing, her smile etched with sadness. "His name was Suman Dark."

***

Her first step out the elevator was unsteady at best, and she nearly took a fall; her hands, flung out to catch the wall, were what saved her. Leaning heavily against the wall, shifting the point of contact to her shoulder, she took a long, hard look at her hands. They were still trembling, ever so slightly, and she buried her face in them.

The Fallen Ones... how come no one had ever thought to tell her about them? Everything Hevlaska had said shook her to the core. Offering themselves up to God, and yet having to be judged by their Innocence- Evans didn't know whether to condemn or to sympathize. She knew that Suman Dark deserved what he got; deserved his judgement- after all, he had betrayed his comrades; had led them to their deaths, all to save his worthless life. Yet... how could God be so unforgiving, so cruel? After all, Suman had served God, no matter how unwillingly; had put his life on the line several, several times. When it did matter, however, he succumbed. Hearing his punishment from Hevlaska had nearly caused her to dry-heave; it made her shudder to think of what would lie in wait for her at the end of it all.

What made everything worse was the talk the Grand Generals had given her afterwards.

-

_Her voice was still shaky even after Hevlaska's explanation, and she made a bid to control it. "If there's nothing else, Grand Generals, I will take my leave."_

_The same voice that bade her to proceed earlier spoke up again. "Hold on."_

_It was smoothly continued by another, lower, but equally unsettling: "You have not been down here as often as before."_

_Yet another joined in: "We have new plans for you, Evans. You will soon have to report directly to us about your new training results regularly."_

_A fourth voice, feminine, sounded. "I presume Komui has told you about the meeting?"_

_When Evans nodded, the only Grand General yet to have spoken continued, his voice issuing out of his hooded robe: "Everything will be explaineded then. Our stand has changed, Syrona Evans. The Earl seems to have begun moving for real; so must we. We will require you to train longer, harder than you have ever done; we will need your utmost dedication. In return, the promise we made will be fulfilled. You will give your life like you wanted to, and we will use it to save the world. Can you give the Order that?"_

_She knew it wasn't a question; had known it in her bones the minute she stepped into the Order. God forbid she replied 'no' to that._

"_Yes," she said clearly. "Absolutely."_

_-_

She leaned her forehead to the cool surface of the wall, and shut her eyes. _Redemption..._ did it really exist, for her?

"Evans!"

Not surprisingly, she recognised that voice. She pushed off from the wall and began walking rapidly in the opposite direction.

"Evans! Hey, wait up!"

She sped up, but a hand caught her arm from behind, and a certain redhead bobbed into view.

"Hey, why were you walking so fast?" Lavi complained.

She continued walking on determinedly, effectively dragging him along. "I thought you had a mission?"

"I _had_, but Bookman pulled me out. He had work for me to do."

His words made her pause. Lavi had pulled out, leaving Komui with one man short for the missions; yet, the Head Officer hadn't deigned to tell her when they were in the infirmary earlier. She felt a familiar feeling of helplessness bubble up within her, and her face hardened in an attempt to control it.

"And so, shouldn't you be doing Bookman's work right now?" she said coldly.

He smiled, not seeming to register her change in tone. "I've more or less finished. You wouldn't believe which part I'm left with."

She ignored him and kept walking.

"Come on, guess!"

Her face itched to contort itself into a scowl, but she resisted.

"Fine," he said calmly, such a drastic change from his previous mischievous demeanour that Evans couldn't help but lose the rhythm of her stride. "I'll tell you. The only part I'm left with is the part concerning you.

She shot him a sideways glance, but continued walking.

"And you know why I'm left with that part? It's because I don't know enough. Not to mention, Bookman won't let me complete it; he said he'll do it himself. Now, why is that, you think?"

"Shouldn't you be asking Bookman instead?" she answered shortly.

"To be perfectly honest," he confessed solemnly, "you're a lot easier to crack than Bookman."

His words made her pause momentarily, and wonder if she should take offense. She rubbed her eyes tiredly; allowed weakness to seep through. Lavi was being straightforward this time, in asking for information- no more pseudo-poker, no more mind games. Perhaps she should afford him the same respect. "I can't tell you, Lavi, and neither can anyone else who knows. We're bound by secrecy."

He frowned. "The way I see it," he pointed out, "I'm bound to know sooner or later. I'm Bookman's apprentice- the records will fall into my hands anyway."

"In this case," she explained tiredly, "it's going to be later, rather than sooner. I'm sure Bookman will let you in on everything once it's all over. Before then, however, it's not wise to let unnecessary people know."

He nodded sagely. "I knew that."

She flared her nose in irritation. "Then why the hell did you make me say all that?" she snapped. Honestly, she was genuinely trying to be nice and frank, but that insufferable Lavi...

"Thank you."

She felt her breath catch. "What?"

"I said, thank you. For being honest, and letting me know." He smiled warmly, making the green in his eye sparkle most becomingly.

"Oh." She didn't know how else to react- what on earth was Lavi trying to do? He completely threw her off guard- but out of the corner of her eye, she saw that they were nearing the hallway that she was supposed to go to. Lavi couldn't know that was her destination; she averted her eyes and walked right past it.

"I didn't expect you to be so straightforward," Lavi spoke up suddenly. "I thought you would try to change the subject, or give a vague answer. But you didn't."

She closed her eyes briefly. _Shit._ Now Lavi was going to think she had gone soft. She opened her eyes and allowed the ends of her lips to curve up into a sardonic smirk. "I thought someone said straightforward was the way to go?"

His eye bore into hers. "Did you get tired of hiding?"

She faltered. What did he mean? She had merely been trying to be nice, after all.

He changed tone abruptly. "Why?" he asked, so softly she felt her heart skip a beat.

Without knowing why, she bowed her head, not daring to look into his eye. "I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered resolutely.

She heard him sigh, and peeked out of the corner of her eye. He wore a look of frustration on his face. "Never mind," he said, and abruptly halted his footsteps, took her firmly by hand and proceeded to drag her off down another hallway.

"What-" she began to protest, but he shushed her with a glance over his shoulder. "I want to show you something," he told her. His expression left no room for argument, so she took a quick glimpse back at the hallway she was supposed to meet Komui in, shrugged her shoulders and allowed herself to be hauled off.

Her confusion grew with the distance they covered. The hallways Lavi was dragging her down were unfamiliar, and she had been pretty sure she had explored the most of the Order in the month or so she'd been here. They had twisted and turned in such a way that even though she struggled to remember the path they had taken, she had failed.

They turned down yet another hallway, and Evans squinted to make out details- the hallways seemed to get darker and darker the further they proceeded- and unconsciously, she began to hang back further, her peasant skirt swishing reluctantly about her legs. Her foot caught on an uneven bit of floor and she tripped, very nearly falling, save for Lavi's timely help- he'd tightened his grip on her hand. She tried not to blush, but he simply hurried along even faster, tugged her more urgently behind him.

Finally, they halted in front a set of ornate double doors, blindingly white in the gloom of the hallway. Evans cast Lavi a curious look; Lavi nodded in return, and pushed open the door. Instantly, light of the purest white blinded them both, and Evans threw an arm up in front of her in alarm. When the shock faded and her eyes adjusted to the light, however, she found the calm eyes of the Christ looking back at her, and her heart froze.

-

**a/n: **Aahhh... a little late, but better than never, I suppose.

I took the liberty of heaping loads of clues and some sort of foreshadowing in this chapter, so go right ahead and think your heart out, if you're so inclined. For the rest of you, I do hope this chapter hasn't disappointed- I kinda rushed it out, and am afraid that it shows X(

Also, I need your help in planning out the rest of the story. I've thought long and hard, and am now torn between 2 choices- 1) to stick closely with my original plot and leave little room for side-plots. The excitement and climax and whatnot will come sooner, and hard and fast, of course, but so will the end. Or 2) take a couple of detours to explore some of the side-plots (possibly including romance) that I've thought up. I'd very _very_ much like your opinion regarding this, so if you have one, _please_ tell me- it would be very much appreciated.

Can't forget to thank Yuuki Narumi, glon morski, little-L.A.M., espeon16 and Fallende. Much as I'd like to think I'm too cool to thank reviewers, you guys are just too awesome beyond words =D

Please continue to R&R, guys!


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